During the last 15 years, the Earth"s surface temperature rose at a rate of 0.04°C a decade, far slower than the 0.18℃ increase in the 1990s. Meanwhile, emissions of carbon dioxide rose【C1】______This pause in warming has raised【C2】______in the public mind about climate change. A few skeptics say that global warming has stopped. Others argue scientists" understanding of the climate is so flawed that their judgments cannot be【C3】______with any confidence. A convincing explanation of the pause therefore【C4】______both to a proper understanding of the climate and to the【C5】______of climate science. As evidence piled up that temperatures were not rising much, some scientists【C6】______it as a pause. The temperature had fallen for much longer periods twice in the past century or so,【C7】______the general trend was up. Variability is part of the climate system and a 15-year【C8】______was not worth getting excited about. An【C9】______way of looking at the pause"s significance was to say there had been a slowdown. Most records don"t include measurements from the Arctic, which has been wanning faster than anywhere else. Using satellite data to【C10】______the missing Arctic numbers, scientists put the overall rate of global warming at 0.12℃ a decade. A study by NASA puts the "Arctic【C11】______" over the same period【C12】______lower, at 0.07°C a decade, but that is still not【C13】______. It is also worth remembering that average warming is not the only【C14】______of climate change. According to a study, the number of hot days, the number of extremely hot days and the【C15】______of warm periods all【C16】______during the pause. A more stable average temperature hides wider extremes. Still, attempts to【C17】______that stable average have not been convincing, partly because of the conflict between【C18】______temperatures and rising CO 2 emissions, and partly because observed temperatures are now falling【C19】______the range climate models predict. The models embody the state of climate knowledge. If they are wrong, the knowledge is probably【C20】______too. Hence, scientists still attempt hard to interpret the pause.

BPart CDirections: Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese./B

Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsonANSWERSHEET2.(15points)

Though often viewed as a problem for western states, the growing frequency of wildfires is a national concern because of its impact on federal tax dollars, says Professor Max Moritz, a specialist in fire ecology and management. In 2015, the US Forest Service for the first time spent more than half of its $5.5 billion annual budget fighting fires—nearly double the percentage it spent on such efforts 20 years ago. In effect, fewer federal funds today are going towards the agency' s other work—such as forest conservation, watershed and cultural resources management, and infrastructure upkeep—that affect the lives of all Americans. Another nationwide concern is whether public funds from other agencies are going into construction in fire prone districts. As Moritz puts it, how often are federal dollars building homes that are likely to be lost to a wildfire? " It' s already a huge problem from a public expenditure perspective for the whole country," he says. We need to take a magnifying glass to that. Like, "Wait a minute, is this OK?" "Do we want instead to redirect those funds to concentrate on lower-hazard parts of the landscape?" Such a view would require a corresponding shift in the way US society today views fire, researchers say. For one thing, conversations about wildfires need to be more inclusive. Over the past decade, the focus has been on climate change—how the warming of the Earth from greenhouse gases is leading to conditions that worsen fires. While climate is a key element, Moritz says, it shouldn' t come at the expense of the rest of the equation. "The human systems and the landscapes we live on are linked, and the interactions go both ways," he says. Failing to recognize that, he notes, leads to "an overly simplified view of what the solutions might be. Our perception of the problem and of what the solution is becomes very limited". At the same time, people continue to treat fire as an event that needs to be wholly controlled and unleashed only out of necessity, says Professor Balch at the University of Colorado. But acknowledging fire' s inevitable presence in human life is an attitude crucial to developing the laws, policies, and practices that make it as safe as possible, she says. "We' ve disconnected ourselves from living with fire," Balch says. "It is really important to understand and try and tease out what is the human connection with fire today. "

Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthecharts.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthecharts,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150words.

BSection III Writing/B

Running for the office of the President of the United States is exceptionally arduous and should not be undertaken by the【C1】______hearted. The candidates must first compete in the local primary elections. During the primary campaign, the candidate endeavors to【C2】______the votes of his or her constituents. Any new candidates are the opponents【C3】______the incumbent, the President currently in office who is running for re-election. The candidates refrain from actions that might create animosity【C4】______them and the public. Rather, they attempt to appease their constituency by using promotional gimmicks and ambiguous equivocation, as well as【C5】______decorous protocol. The public is indeed curious about, if not【C6】______of, the candidate's professional life, in addition to his or her personal life, which will be under【C7】______scrutiny during the campaign. Since his or her private life becomes public domain, the candidate may【C8】______to disclose any controversial behavior in his or her past before the press digs it up. 【C9】______history has shown us, even a prominent politician can be revealed as a phony. A politician exhibiting scandalous behavior might even be subjected【C10】______censure from his political colleagues. The voters must also【C11】______the political platform of the candidate. The platform includes the core issues【C12】______the candidate promises to resolve during his or her term in office. Typical campaign promises include establishing【C13】______to reduce bureaucratic red tape. The candidate【C14】______the primary election will be nominated by his or her particular political party to run【C15】______the final election. After toppling the competition, the endorsed candidate is expected to【C16】______a nomination address at the National Convention. The audience is usually rapt and responds【C17】______a standing ovation. The final election【C18】______takes place. The winner will be【C19】______in as the President of the United States during the formal inauguration ceremony. This occurs in ornate surroundings, replete【C20】______red carpets and the official U. S. seal.

In 2009 the European Commission carried out an investigation into Microsoft. The American software giant tied Internet Explorer, its web browser, into Windows, the operating system in the great majority of personal computers. This, thought the commission, might be an abuse of its dominance in operating systems: buy a PC, and unless you took the trouble of choosing otherwise, you would browse the web through Explorer. In December that year Microsoft promised that until 2014 it would provide a "choice screen" , asking European Windows users whether they wanted to install another browser. The screen first turned up in March 2010. Jolly good—but Microsoft forgot to keep its word. On March 6th the competition commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, said he had fined it 561m($ 732m)for not including the choice screen with 15m copies of Windows software between May 2011 and July 2012. Neither Microsoft nor the commission spotted the lapse. It seems that eventually other companies did. The fine must sting all the more because Microsoft"s transgression brought it little if any gain. Explorer has fallen behind Chrome, made by Google, and Firefox, made by Mozilla, a non-profit organization. And people are doing more and more browsing on smartphones and tablets, the domain of Apple, Google and their browsers. Microsoft"s antitrust woes in Europe should have been over. In 2004 it was fined 497 m for trying its media player and server operating systems with it PC system. In 2008 it copped another 899m penalty for failing to comply with the commission"s ruling in that case. Lately it has been among the accusers of Google, which Mr Almunia has been investigating since 2010. He suspects Google of abusing a position in online search every bit as imposing as Microsoft"s in PC operating systems. Bing, Microsoft"s search engine, is a distant second. The commissioner believes that Google may be favouring its own specialised services at rival"s expense; that its deals with publishers may unfairly exclude competitors; and that it prevents advertisers from taking their data elsewhere. Mr Almunia asked Google to propose by the end of January ways of meeting his concerns. He has not yet said what it suggested or how he will respond. European antitrust cases have a habit of dragging on. Just ask Microsoft.

Suppose Christmas is around the corner, and you think of Professor Liu, a teacher who taught you a lot when you were at university. Write him a greeting card to 1) recall the days you spent together, and 2) express your best wishes to him. You should write about 100 words. Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead

How did we get brains big enough to create machines with artificial intelligence? Some suggest that it was to help keep track of all the people, and their roles, within our growing social groups. Large, well-integrated and co-ordinated groups improved our chances of survival because they made the division of labour possible. The alternative explanation is that our brain power is due to needing brains that facilitated problem-solving and invention. Whatever the cause, our evolved problem-solving abilities have thrown a spanner in the works . Google's artificial intelligence machine AlphaGo upends the evolved social contract. Now we can only hope that the machine will help us understand how to preserve the value of individuals who have no contribution to make. Until recently, for instance, Lee Sedol's unique selling point lay in his ability to beat all-comers at the ancient Asian game of Go. Now a team of human beings equipped with AlphaGo, an AI tool, have beaten him. After the first defeat, Sedol pronounced himself "in shock". After the second defeat he was "quite speechless". After the third he confessed he felt "powerless". This quiet revolution has already started. You know about Google's self-driving car. Artificial intelligence is already better than most doctors at interpreting medical scans. It is organising school timetables and finding the optimal delivery schedule for supermarket supplies: getting Easter eggs into the hands of slavering infants involves AI. You're not even going to notice the takeover. Next time you're in a supermarket, give the self-service checkout a hard stare. It's essentially a static robot. And this robot has human assistants. Those people who turn up when you attempt to buy alcohol are summoned by the machine. The human assistant is still necessary, but only because the manufacturers and programmers made a decision to limit the robot's capabilities. They didn't have to: if we decided we wanted fully autonomous robot checkouts, we could equip them to read iris scans or fingerprints, or simply use face recognition. And that would require us to sign up and hand over our biometric data. Given a little time to get used to the idea, most of us probably would do, and more jobs will go. That tells us something about why we should start coming to terms with the implications of AlphaGo's success. It's not clear our big, clever brains can solve the problem. Maybe those who profit from making human roles redundant could pay a "human capital gains" tax: we could charge the innovators for replacing a job and divert the money into social programmes. But how to make Google pay to implement its AI? We may have found the problem AlphaGo can't solve.

BPart B/B

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

For many people, emotions are a scary thing. 【C1】______of the problem is that we just don't know what to do with them, according to Darlene Mininni, Ph. D, author of The Emotional Toolkit. So we adopt the only strategies we【C2】______know. If you're a man, you might distract yourself【C3】______playing video games, tinkering with your tools or drinking alcohol, she said. If you're a woman, you might shop or eat. 【C4】______to these tools occasionally is OK, Mininni said. Making them part of your regular coping repertoire, however, is problematic. Emotions are valuable, and【C5】______a bounty of benefits. Emotions send us important messages and help us connect with others and accomplish great things, Mininni said. Using【C6】______strategies, however, can sabotage our relationships, job and even our health, Mininni said. In fact, people who handle stress effectively have healthier immune systems, don't get sick as often and age【C7】______16 years more slowly than people who don't. There's actually【C8】______consensus on what an emotion is, and scientists may have various interpretations. Mininni【C9】______emotions as a "full-body experience," an interplay between our thoughts and physical sensations. For instance, a kind of giddy happiness and anxiety have the same sensations, such as tight muscles and a【C10】______heart. What determines whether we feel happy or anxious are our thoughts. Mininni said that all emotions【C11】______into these categories: anxiety, sadness, anger and happiness. In order to identify the【C12】______of your emotion, ask yourself these questions: Anxiety: What am I afraid of? Sadness; What have I lost? Anger: How have I or my values been attacked? Happiness; What have I gained? Once you've identified your emotional state, the last step is to take【C13】______. Ask yourself if there's anything you can do to solve the situation, Mininni said. If there is, consider what you can do. If there's【C14】______you can do, determine how you can cope with the emotion, she said. Mininni suggested meditating, getting social support, writing, exercising and seeking therapy. Think of these strategies as an emotional toolkit. You simply【C15】______your kit, and pick out the healthy tool you need, Mininni said. In fact, you can create an real toolkit, and pack it with【C16】______items such as sneakers, your journal, funny films, favorite books and a list of people you'd like to call when you're【C17】______. The strategies that work best will【C18】______with each person, depending on your personality, physiology and other individual factors, Mininni said. For some people, running works wonders in alleviating anxiety. For others, meditation is【C19】______. Emotions may seem confusing and threatening but applying the above practical and clear-cut approach reveals emotions for【C20】______they really are; useful, informative and far from murky.

Any American who has bought a pack of cigarettes since the mid-'60s might have seen the health warnings. It says, "SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, And May Complicate Pregnancy." Such government warnings work,【C1】______— research has shown that smokers in countries with strong warnings know more about smoking【C2】______than those in countries where warnings are weaker. But it's unclear whether smokers who see any warning【C3】______smoke less. Public-health advocates have known for years that individualized messages are far more【C4】______at getting smokers to stop. For instance,【C5】______a doctor reminds a patient that her sister has promised to help her【C6】______, that patient will be much more likely to stop smoking than someone who just sees a(n)【C7】______message on a cigarette pack. A recent study shows that tailored antismoking messages engage brain regions involved in how people see themselves. Those regions are associated with emotion【C8】______basic human awareness and, possibly, awareness of others'【C9】______of us. The authors of the study, a University of Michigan team led by psychologist Hannah Faye Chua,【C10】______91 smokers who wanted to quit. The participants, who smoked an average of 17 cigarettes per day,【C11】______medical imaging scans for one hour while different messages appeared on a screen. Some messages were tailored to their【C12】______histories (for example, "A concern you have is being tempted to smoke when【C13】______other smokers"). Some messages were general anti-smoking【C14】______. The researchers found that the tailored messages【C15】______the two brain regions significantly more than the non-tailored and【C16】______messages. In other words, reading a short sentence changed their brain activity—【C17】______those who showed stronger activity in those regions were more likely to quit smoking. The reason this paper is important is that it【C18】______a growing body of research showing that what is often mocked as "talk therapy" can produce real changes in brain【C19】______. If you really want to quit smoking, you should commit to a(n)【C20】______behavioral-therapy program. It will not only help you stop; it could change how your brain works.

We already know that gender balanced senior teams are not only better for business, the economy and society, but also crucial to women's continuing success in the workplace. The visibility of women at the top demonstrates to other women that it is possible for them to get there too. For this reason, senior women are often presented as role models to inspire others to follow in their footsteps. Having said this, I believe it is important to recognise that role models and visibility are not one and the same. Role models tend to be more personal, while visibility has a more widespread effect when it comes to changing working culture. It isn't fair to put the pressure of being a perfect role model on the women who have made it to the top of their field. Most female employees are more inspired by realistic, relatable and attainable traits—not just seniority. When women are asked to describe their ideal role model, they often reveal a wide variety of sought-after characteristics, traits and behaviours. From being decisive, intelligent and confident to warm, approachable and inclusive, what makes an ideal role model is often personal and might change over time. We must work instead to normalise gender-balanced leadership, shifting away from the preoccupation with role models. Once we achieve this, the gender of role models becomes redundant anyway: we will simply see them all around. The visible balance of power between women and men sends a clear message to women and girls of all ages that they can climb the career ladder too. This visibility of women in traditionally male-dominated roles and industries cannot be underestimated. This is beautifully illustrated by photographer Leonora Saunders in her series "10%. . . and rising" , which challenges preconceptions of what women can or can't do in the world of work. Once girls and boys see people like themselves employed in all industries, their choices in life will be much greater— and employers will benefit from their capability and talent, not their gender. We need to focus increasingly on visible, balanced leadership at the highest levels of business. This is not to say that senior level women can't be role models to other women in their organisation, but that true role models should be found at all levels, in line managers or even junior staff. Perhaps in time, when it becomes normal to see as many women as men in senior roles, the search for role models will be less about gender and will simply celebrate good leadership—whatever that may look like.

ShortlyafterTheEconomistwenttopress,about25,000peoplewereexpectedtoturnupattheLondonArtFair.Yourcorrespondentvisitedjustbefore,as128whiteboothswerebeingfilledwithmodernpaintingsandsculptures.Dealersclutchedmobilephonestotheirearsorgatheredinsmallgroups.Theyseemednervous—aswelltheymightbe."Icanearnayear'slivinginonefair,"saidoneharrieddealerwhilestringingupasetoflights.Before1999Londonhadjustoneregularcontemporaryartfair,remembersWillRamsay,bossoftheexpandingAffordableArtFair.Thisyeararound20willbeheldinBritain,mostlyinthecapital.Roughly90willtakeplaceworldwide.ThesuccessoflargereventssuchasFrieze,whichstartedinLondon,hasstimulatedthegrowthofsmallerfairsspecialisingincraftwork,ceramicsandotherthings.Artl4,whichstartedlastyear,specialisesinlesswell-knowninternationalgalleries,showingartfromSub-SaharanAfrica,SouthKoreaandHongKong.Oneexplanationfortheboomistheoverallgrowthofthemodern-artmarket.Four-fifthsofallartsoldatauctionworldwidelastyearwasfromthe20thor21stcentury,accordingtoArtprice,adatabase.InNovemberanauctioninNewYorkofmodernandcontemporaryartmade$691m,easilybreakingthepreviousrecord.Asolderartbecomeshardertobuy—muchofitislockedupinmuseums—demandforrecentworksisrising.London'sartmarketinparticularhasbeenboostedbyaninfluxofrichimmigrantsfromRussia,ChinaandtheMiddleEast."WhenIstarted23yearsagoIhadnotasinglenon-Westernforeignbuyer,"saysKennySchachter,anartdealer."It'sadifferentworldnow."AndLondon'snewrichbuyartdifferently.Theyoftenspendlittletimeinthecapitalanddonotknowitwell.Traipsingaroundindividualgalleriesisinconvenient,particularlyasgallerieshavemovedoutofcentralLondon.Themall-likeset-upofafairismuchmoresuitable.CommercialgalleriesusedtorelyonregularvisitsfromrichBritonsseekingtofurnishtheirstatelyhomes.Manywerefamilyfriends.Thenewartbuyershavenosuchloyalty.Peoplenowvisitgalleriesmainlytogotoeventsandtobeseen,saysAlanCristea,agalleryowneronCorkstreetinMayfair.Fairs,andthepartiesthatspringuparoundthem,aremuchbetterplacestobespotted.Somegalleriesarefeelingsqueezed.BernardJacobsonrunsagalleryoppositeMrCristea.Thechangingartmarketremindshimofhisfather,achemist,whowaseclipsedbyapharmaceuticalchain,inthe1960s.SevengalleriesinCorkStreetrelocatedthismonthtomakewayforaredevelopment;fivemoremayfollowlaterthisyear.Yettheriseofthefairsmeansgalleriesnolongerrequireprimerealestate,thinksSarahMonkoftheLondonArtFair.Withaninternationalclientele,manycanworkonlineorfromhome.Althoughsomeartfairsstillrequiretheirexhibitorstohaveagalleryspace,increasinglythesearesmallplacesoutsidecentralLondonorbeyondthecityaltogether.OnegalleryownersaysfewrichcustomersevervisithisshopinsouthLondon.Hemakesallhiscontactsattheboothshesetsupatfairs,whichmightbetwicethesizeofhisstore."It'salittlelikefishing,"heexplains."Youmovetowherethepikeis."

Institutions of higher learning must move, as the historian Walter Russell Mead puts it, from a model of "time served" to a model of "stuff learned." Because increasingly the world does not care what you know. Everything is on Google. The world only cares, and will only pay for, what you can do with what you know. And therefore it will not pay for a C-plus in chemistry, just because your state college considers that a passing grade and was willing to give you a diploma. We 're moving to a more competency-based world, where there will be less interest in how you acquired the competency and more demand to prove that you mastered the competency. Therefore, we have to get beyond the current system of information and delivery—the professorial "sage on the stage" and students taking notes, followed by a superficial assessment, to one in which students are asked and empowered to master more basic material online at their own pace, and the classroom becomes a place where the application of that knowledge can be honed through lab experiments and discussions with the professor. There seemed to be a strong consensus that this "blended model" combining online lectures with a teacher-led classroom experience was the ideal. Last fall, San Jose State used the online lectures and interactive exercises of MIT' s introductory online Circuits and Electronics course. Students would watch the MIT lectures and do the exercises at home. Then in class, the first 15 minutes were reserved for questions and answers with the San Jose State professor, and the last 45 were devoted to problem-solving and discussion. Preliminary numbers indicate that those passing the class went from nearly 60 percent to about 90 percent. We demand that plumbers and kindergarten teachers be certified to do what they do, but there is no requirement that college professors know how to teach. No more . The world of MOOCs(Massive Open Online Courses)is creating a competition that will force every professor to improve his or her pedagogy or face an online competitor. Bottom line: There is still huge value in the residential college experience and the teacher-student and student-student interactions it facilitates. But to thrive, universities will have to nurture even more of those unique experiences while blending in technology to improve education outcomes in measurable ways at lower costs. We still need more research on what works, but standing still is not an option.

The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that it is trying to track down as many as 386 piglets that may have been genetically engineered and wrongfully sold into the U.S. food supply. The focus of the FDA investigation is pigs raised by researchers at the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign. They engineered the animals with two genes: One is a cow gene that increases milk production in the sow. The other, a synthetic gene, makes the milk easier for piglets to digest. The goal was to raise bigger pigs faster. There has been no evidence that either genetically altered plants or animals actually trigger human illness, but critics warn that potential side effects remain unknown. University officials say their tests showed the piglets were not born with the altered genes, but FDA rules require even the offspring of genetically engineered animals to be destroyed so they don't get into the food supply. The FDA, in a quickly arranged news conference Wednesday prompted by inquiries by USA TODAY, said the University of Illinois will face possible sanctions and fines for selling the piglets to a livestock broker, who in turn sells to processing plants. Both the FDA and the university say the pigs that entered the market do not pose a risk to consumers. But the investigation follows action by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in December to fine a Texas company that contaminated 500 000 bushels of soybeans with corn that had been genetically altered to produce a vaccine for pigs. Critics see such cases as evidence of the need for more government oversight of a burgeoning area of scientific research. "This is a small incident, but it's incident like this that could destroy consumer confidence and export confidence, "says Stephanie Childs of the Grocery Manufacturers of America. "We already have Europe shaky on biotech. The countries to whom we export are going to look at this." The University of Illinois says it tested the DNA of every piglet eight times to make sure that the animal hadn't inherited the genetic engineering of its mother. Those piglets that did were put back into the study. Those that didn't were sold to the pig broker. "Any pig who's tested negative for the genes since 1999 has been sent off to market, "says Charles Zukoski, vice chancellor for research. But FDA deputy commissioner Lester Crawford says that under the terms of the university's agreement with the FDA, the researchers were forbidden to remove the piglets without FDA approval. "The University of Illinois failed to check with FDA to see whether or not the animals could be sold on the open market. And they were not to be used under any circumstance for food." The FDA is responsible for regulating and overseeing transgenic animals because such genetic manipulation is considered an unapproved animal drug.

As the internet and social media become increasingly embedded in how we connect with and understand the world around us, so does the language we use to access that experience. Today the UN argues that speakers of non-dominant languages need to be able to express themselves online in culturally meaningful ways, and urges governments to develop comprehensive language-related policies that support and facilitate online linguistic diversity and multilingualism. "The internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow," said Bill Gates. But if the vast majority of the world's languages don't have a digital future, what will speakers have to sacrifice to be heard in the "digital town square"? Closing the digital divide clearly has huge potential to empower individuals around the world.

BPart ADirections: Write a composition/letter of no less than 100 words on the following information./B