BSection III Writing/B

Suppose your roommate Ken is moving to another dorm room this weekend. Write him a letter to 1) offer your help, and 2) send him a little gift. You should write about 100 words. Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write your address.

Warren Buffett, who on May 3rd hosts the folksy extravaganza that is Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholders' meeting, is an icon of American capitalism. At 83, he also embodies a striking demographic trend: for highly skilled people to go on working well into what was once thought to be old age. Across the rich world, well-educated people increasingly work longer than the less-skilled. Some 65% of American men aged 62-74 with a professional degree are in the workforce, compared with 32% of men with only a high-school certificate. This gap is part of a deepening divide between the well-educated well-off and the unskilled poor that is slicing through all age groups. Rapid innovation has raised the incomes of the highly skilled while squeezing those of the unskilled. Those at the top are working longer hours each year than those at the bottom. And the well-qualified are extending their working lives, compared with those of less-educated people. The consequences, for individuals and society, are profound. But the notion of a sharp division between the working young and the idle old misses a new trend, the growing gap between the skilled and the unskilled. Employment rates are falling among younger unskilled people, whereas older skilled folk are working longer. The divide is most extreme in America, where well-educated baby-boomers are putting off retirement while many less-skilled younger people have dropped out of the workforce. Policy is partly responsible. Many European governments have abandoned policies that used to encourage people to retire early. Rising life expectancy, combined with the replacement of generous defined-benefit pension plans with stingier defined-contribution ones, means that even the better-off must work longer to have a comfortable retirement. But the changing nature of work also plays a big role. Pay has risen sharply for the highly educated, and those people continue to reap rich rewards into old age because these days the educated elderly are more productive than their predecessors. Technological change may well reinforce that shift: the skills that complement computers, from management expertise to creativity, do not necessarily decline with age. This trend will benefit not just fortunate oldies but also, in some ways, society as a whole. Government budgets will be in better shape, as high earners pay taxes for longer. Rich countries with lots of well-educated older people will find the burden of ageing easier to bear than other places. At the other end of the social scale, however, things look grim. Nor are all the effects on the economy beneficial. Wealthy old people will accumulate more savings, which will weaken demand. Inequality will increase and a growing share of wealth will eventually be transferred to the next generation via inheritance, entrenching the division between winners and losers still further.

You are going to take part in MBA exam. Write a letter of inquiry to the dean of Management School to inquire about: 1) the subjects to be examed; 2) the number of students to be enrolled; 3) other things you should pay attention to. You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET. Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write the address. (10 points)

Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingpiecharts.Inyouressay,youshould1)interpretthepiechartsand2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteatleast150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.(15points)

A young consultant"s life is tiring. A typical week starts before dawn on Monday, with a rush to the airport and a flight to wherever the client is based. A typical brain-for-hire can expect to stay in hotels at least three nights a week, texting a distant lover. " It"s quite normal to spend a year living out of a suitcase," sighs one London-based consultant. An ex-McKinseyite in New York adds that 15 to 18-hour weekdays are normal and six to eight-hour Saturdays and Sundays common. It can be draining, she admits. So the job appeals to " insecure over-achievers "—a phrase widely used in the industry—"who are always worried that they haven"t done enough work," jokes a former employee of Bain except enough sleep.

Drinking water and water for domestic use often come from groundwater. In order to protect this water, local water authorities can apply to local administrative authorities to mark certain locations as water protection areas. The size of these areas is calculated in such a way that the quantity of groundwater taken from them corresponds to the actual rainfall going into them. In the water protection areas certain uses of the land and activities on the land are banned or restricted. Water protection areas fall into three zones. Zone 3 is the outermost zone with a diameter of 4 kilometers around the groundwater well. Here no chemical works or the use of pesticides (杀虫剂) are allowed. Zone 2 is determined around the so-called 50-day line. It is assumed that after 50 days in the groundwater harmful bacteria will have died off. Here settlements and fertilizer storage are forbidden. Zone 1 marks the ten-meter boundary around the well. Here, any use of the land, as well as access by unauthorized persons, is forbidden.

Until last year, Alan Felzer was an energetic engineering professor who took the stairs to his classes two steps at a time. Now the 64-year-old grandfather sits strapped to a wheelchair, able to move little but his left hand, his voice a near-whisper. Felzer suffers from ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The fatal neurological disorder steals the body's ability to move, speak and ultimately to breathe. But rather than succumb to despair along with his illness, Felzer turned to the Web to become his own medical researcher—and his own guinea pig. Dozens of ALS patients are testing treatments on their own without waiting on the slow pace of medical research. They are part of an emerging group of patients willing to share intimate health details on the Web in hopes of making their own medical discoveries. Some doctors caution that such patient-led research lacks rigor and may lead to unreliable results, false hopes and harm to patients. "The Internet is a wonderful tool, but you know, it's buyer beware," said Dr. Edward Langston, immediate past chairman of the American Medical Association's board. In Felzer's case, the experiment's results illustrate the obstacles that stand between patients and self-discovered breakthroughs. The drug he tried did no good. But he and his family felt they had little time and little to lose in trying. "ALS is such a short illness," said Felzer's wife, Laura. She helps her husband communicate using sign language with his one good hand when his slow, halting words become difficult to understand. "You want to do what you can as fast as you can." The U. S. Food and Drug Administration has approved only one drug to treat ALS symptoms. It only works for some patients, and its effects are limited. As a result, Internet forums for ALS patients brim with links to the latest research offering any hint of promise. After Alan Felzer was diagnosed last year, his 33-year-old daughter, Karen, dived into the forums and found new hope. Working online, Karen Felzer and Macedo recruited nearly 200 patients worldwide to take a specific lithium dosage and answer standard surveys to gauge their symptoms. They began running their study through a Web site called PatientsLikeMe. com, using it to attract volunteers and track their progress. On the site, patients share detailed information about their symptoms and the drugs they are taking. The site focuses on conditions that have stubbornly resisted medical science, such as ALS, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis. The site's founders hope professional and amateur researchers alike will dip into the resulting pool of data and emerge with insights that lead to better treatments. "My ultimate frustration that drove this site into existence was an overall feeling that there was a lack of transparency and speed or urgency" by the medical system, said Jamie Heywood, who co-founded PatientsLikeMe months before his own brother died of AI.S.

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

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

It amazes me when people proclaim that they are bored. Actually, it amazes me that I am ever bored, or that any of us are. With so much to occupy us these days, boredom should be a relic of a bygone age—an age devoid of the internet, social media, multi-channel TV, 24-hour shopping, multiplex cinemas, game consoles, texting and whatever other myriad possibilities are available these days to entertain us. Yet despite the plethora of high-iniensity entertainment constantly at our disposal, we are still bored. Up to half of us are "often bored" at home or at school, while more than two-thirds of us are chronically bored at work. We are bored by paperwork, by the commute and by dull meetings. TV is boring, as is Facebook and other social media. There are a number of explanations for our ennui. This, in fact, is part of the problem—we are overstimulated. The more entertained we are the more entertainment we need in order to feel satisfied. The more we fill our world with fast-moving, high-intensity, ever-changing stimulation, the more we get used to that and the less tolerant we become of lower levels. Our attention spans are now thought to be less than that of a goldfish ( eight seconds). We are hard-wired to seek novelty, which produces a hit of dopamine, that feel-good chemical, in our brains. As soon as a new stimulus is noticed, however, it is no longer new, and after a while it bores us. To get that same pleasurable dopamine hit we seek fresh sources of distraction. Our increasing reliance on screentime is also to blame. We seem to live in a varied and exciting world with a wealth of entertainment at our fingertips, and many of these amusements are obtained in remarkably similar ways—via our fingers. On average we spend six to seven hours in front of our phone, tablet, computer and TV screens every day. The irony is that while our mobile devices should allow us to fill every moment, our means of obtaining that entertainment has become so repetitive and routine that it's a source of boredom in itself. Research suggests that chronic boredom is responsible for a profusion of negative outcomes such as overeating, gambling, truancy, antisocial behaviour, drug use, accidents, risk taking and much more. We need less, not more, stimulation and novelty. It seems paradoxical, but feeling bored in the short term will make us less bored in the long term.

It is the urban driver's most agonizing everyday experience: the search for an empty parking place. Circling, narrowly missing a spot, cleverly defeating other motorists to finally【C1】______into a space only to discover that it is【C2】______limits during working hours. In San Francisco, it is also a worrying traffic problem. Drivers【C3】______for parking spots generate 30 percent of all【C4】______traffic jam, city officials estimate. Now San Francisco proclaims that they have found a【C5】______—a phone app for spot-seekers that【C6】______information about areas with available spaces. The system, introduced last month, relies on wireless sensors【C7】______in streets and city garages that can tell【C8】______seconds if a spot has opened up.【C9】______the system could come with serious consequences. Safety advocates say that drivers on the search for parking could【C10】______focusing on their phones, not the road. "It could be really【C11】______," said Daniel Simons, a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois, where he studies the science of attention. And, he said, it could also be【C12】______: "Most people are looking for parking spaces in places that have a lot of traffic and a lot of【C13】______." City officials acknowledge the potential【C14】______. They are urging drivers to【C15】______before they pull up the city's iPhone app, or to do so before they leave home. But the spots can disappear quickly,【C16】______any circling driver knows, and for plugged-in motorists in the habit of texting or glancing at the GPS, the urge to use the parking app is certain to【C17】______as the frustration does. San Francisco has put sensors into 7,000 metered parking spots and 12,250 spots in city garages. If spaces in an area open up, the sensors communicate wirelessly with computers that in turn make the information【C18】______to app users within a minute. On the app, a map shows which blocks have lots of places (blue) and which are【C19】______(red). San Francisco's is by far the most widespread【C20】______that several cities, universities and private parking garages are experimenting with.

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

The battle between Apple and law enforcement officials over unlocking a terrorist's smart-phone is the climax of a slow turning of the tables between the technology industry and the United States government. On the one side, you have the United States government' s mighty legal and security apparatus fighting for data of the most sympathetic sort: the secrets buried in a dead mass murderer's phone. The action stems from a federal court order issued on Tuesday requiring Apple to help the F.B.I. unlock an iPhone used by one of the two attackers who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif, in December. In the other corner is the world' s most valuable company, whose chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, has said he will appeal the court' s order. Apple argues that it is fighting to preserve a principle that most of us who are addicted to our smartphones can defend: Weaken a single iPhone so that its contents can be viewed by the American government and you risk weakening all iPhones for any government intruder, anywhere. There will probably be months of legal tussling, and it is not at all clear which side will prevail in court, nor in the battle for public opinion and legislative favor. Yet underlying all of this is a simple dynamic: Apple, Google, Facebook and other companies hold most of the cards in this confrontation. They have our data, and their businesses depend on the global public' s collective belief that they will do everything they can to protect that data. Any crack in that front could be fatal for tech companies that must operate worldwide. If Apple is forced to open up an iPhone for an American law enforcement investigation, what' s to prevent it from doing so for a request from the Chinese or the Iranians? Once armed with a method for gaining access to iPhones, the government could ask to use it proactively, before a suspected terrorist at tack—leaving Apple in a bind as to whether to comply or risk an attack and suffer a public-relations nightmare. Yet it' s worth noting that even if Apple ultimately loses this case, it has plenty of technical means to close a backdoor over time. "If they're anywhere near worth their salt as engineers, I bet they're rethinking their threat model as we speak," said Jonathan Zdziarski, who studies the iPhone and its vulnerabilities.

Everybody loves a fat pay rise. Yet pleasure at your own can vanish if you learn that a colleague has been given a bigger one. Indeed, if he has a reputation for slacking(偷懒) , you might even be outraged. Such behavior is regarded as "all too human", with the underlying assumption that other animals would not be capable of this finely developed sense of grievance (不满). But a study by Sarah Brosnan and Frans de Waal of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, which has just been published in Nature, suggests that it is all too monkey, as well. The researchers studied the behavior of female brown capuchin monkeys (僧帽猴). They look cute. They are good-natured, co-operative creatures, and they share their food tardily. Above all, like their female human counterparts, they tend to pay much closer attention to the value of "goods and services" than males. Such characteristics make them perfect candidates for Dr. Brosnan's and Dr. de Waal's study. The researchers spent two years teaching their monkeys to exchange tokens for food. Normally, the monkeys were happy enough to exchange pieces of rock for slices of cucumber(黄瓜). However, when two monkeys were placed in separate but adjoining chambers, so that each could observe what the other was getting in return for its rock, their behavior became markedly different.In the world of capuchins grapes are luxury goods (and much preferable to cucumbers). So when one monkey was handed a grape in exchange for her token, the second was reluctant to hand hers over for a mere piece of cucumber. And if one received a grape without having to provide her token in exchange at all, the other either tossed her own token at the researcher or out of the chamber, or refused to accept the slice of cucumber. Indeed, the mere presence of a grape in the other chamber (without an actual monkey to eat it) was enough to induce resentment in a female capuchin. The researches suggest that capuchin monkeys, like humans, are guided by social emotions. In the wild, they are a co-operative, group-living species. Such co-operation is likely to be stable only when each animal feels it is not being cheated. Feelings of righteous indignation(愤怒) , it seems, are not the preserve of people alone. Refusing a lesser reward completely makes these feelings abundantly clear to other members of the group. However, whether such a sense of fairness evolved independently in capuchins and humans, or whether it stems from the common ancestor that the species had 35 million years ago, is, as yet, an unanswered question.

AtthePolishClubinGlasgow,ScotsandPolessocializeeasily.ManyofthecustomersinitsrestaurantareScottish,eagertotryPolishfoodbeforegoingthereonholiday,says16-year-oldMari-a,whomovedtoScotlandeightyearsagoandworksintheclubpart-timeasawaitress.She,bycontrast,hasnodesiretoreturn.Scotland'swelcomehasbeenwarm.Itsgovernmentwantsittobewarmerstill.Scotland'sleadershavelongmaintainedthattheyneedimmigrantsmorethantherestofBritaindoes,bothtoboostthecountry'ssparsepopulationandtoalleviateskillsshortages.Between1981and2003Scotland'spopulationdeclined.MostofthepopulationgrowththatScotlandhasseensincethenhasbeenthankstomigrants,largelyfromoutsideBritain.ScotsarehavingfewerchildrenandageingmorerapidlythanotherBritons;oncurrenttrendstheScottishpopulationwillswellbyjust4%by2062comparedwith23%forBritainasawhole,accordingtotheInstituteforFiscalStudies.Theonlygroupexpectedtogrowistheoldestone.IfScotsvoteforindependence,anationalistgovernmentpromisestoencourageimmigration.Itwouldofferincentivesformigrantswillingtomovetofar-flungspots.Itwouldeasethenationwiderequirementthatimmigrantsmustearnaparticularsalarytogainresidencytoreflectthelowercostoflivingthere.Studentswouldbeabletostayaftergraduatingandworkforseveralyears.Turningtheseaspirationsintoaworkableimmigrationpolicywouldbetricky.ThoughanxioustojointheEU,Scotland'sgovernmentislesskeenontheSchengentravelzone,whichallowsnon-EUcitizenstotravelonasinglevisa.ItwantstoremainpartoftheCommonTravelArea,liketheRepublicofIreland,whichimposesminimalbordercontrols.RobertWright,aneconomistatStrath-clydeUniversitywhohasadvisedthegovernmentondemography,isunconvincedthispick-and-mixapproachtoEUmembershipwouldwork.AndthiswouldbeoneofmanystrainsonScotland'srelationshipwiththerestofBritain.Differentimmigrationpoliciesintwocountriesthatsharealandbordercouldresultinstrictercontrols,includingpassportchecksbetweenthem.HumzaYousaf,Scotland'sministerforexternalaffairsandinternationaldevelopment,deniestheywouldbenecessary.Scotlandwouldhavebordermanagement,hestresses,notborderguards.ButsomeEnglishpoliticiansmaydisagree.Ifthenationalistslosetheindependencevote,LondoncouldbemindedtodevolvefurtherpowerstoScotland,perhapsincludingoverimmigration.MrWrightarguesthereisscopeformoreregionaldiversity.InCanada,immigrationrequirementsareeasedifpeopleagreetoliveinlesspopularprovinces.ScotsaresomewhatlessresistanttoimmigrationthanotherBritons.Some58%wantfewermigrantsinScotland.Fully75%ofEnglishandWelshpeoplewantfewerintheircountries,saysareportbytheMigrationObservatoryattheUniversityofOxford.AndScotsaremoresanguine.Just21%identifyimmigrationasoneofthemostimportantissuesfacingthecountry,lowerthantheBritishaverageof33%,accordingtoIpsosMORI,apollster.ThatequanimitystemsinpartfromthefactthatmigrantsinScotlandarenotespeciallycommon.Morethanhalfofits"foreign"residentscomefromotherpartsofBritain.Attitudestoimmigrantstendtobesoftestwherenewcomersarescarce,asinScotland,orverynumerous,asinLondon.Theyhardeninbetweenthoseextremes.IneasternEngland,forexample,whereeasternEuropeansareincreasinglynumerous,38%fumeaboutimmigration.IfScotlandmanagestoenticemoreforeigners,itwillenterthisdifficultmiddleterritory.ThewarmScottishwelcomecouldcool.

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

The price of a bitcoin topped $900 last week, an enormous surge in value that arrived amidst Congressional hearings where top U.S. financial regulators took a surprisingly optimistic view of digital currency. Just 10 months ago, a bitcoin only sold for $13. The【C1】______increase was big news across the【C2】______, from Washington to Tokyo to China, and it left many asking themselves: "What on earth is a bitcoin?" It's a good question. Bitcoin is a digital currency, meaning it's money controlled and stored entirely by computers【C3】______across the internet, and this money is finding its way to more and more people and businesses around the world.【C4】______it's much more than that, and many people—【C5】______the sharpest of internet【C6】______as well as seasoned economists—are still【C7】______to come to terms【C8】______its many identities. Bitcoin isn't just a currency, like dollars or euros or yen. It's a way of making【C9】______, like PayPal or the Visa credit card network. It lets you hold money, but it also lets you spend it and【C10】______it and move it from place to place, almost as cheaply and easily as you'd send an email. As the press so often points out, bitcoin lets you do all this without【C11】______your identity. But at the same time, it's a system that operates【C12】______in the public view. All bitcoin【C13】______are recorded online for anyone to see, lending a certain transparency to the system, a transparency that can drive a new【C14】______in the economy. Bitcoin is much more than a money service. It's a re-imagining of【C15】______finance, something that【C16】______barriers between countries and frees currency from the control of federal governments. Bitcoin is controlled by open source software that operates according to the【C17】______of mathematics—and by the people who collectively supervise this software. The software【C18】______on thousands of machines around the world, but it can be changed It's just that a majority of those supervising the software must【C19】______to the change.【C20】______, bitcoin is kind of like the internet, but for money.

[A] Learn How to Recognize Your Soul Mate[B] Take Religion Seriously[C] Consider Marrying Young[D] Learn to Read Regularly[E] Watch "Groundhog Day" Repeatedly[F] Eventually Stop Fretting about Fame and Fortune[G] Cultivate the Habit of Watching Movies A few years ago, I took it upon myself to start writing tips for the young staff where I work about how to avoid doing things that would make their supervisors write them off. At that point, I had to deal with a reality: When it comes to a life filled with deep and lasting satisfactions, most of the cliches are true. How could I make them sound fresh to a new generation? Here's how I tried. 【R1】______ The age of marriage for college graduates has been increasing for decades, and this cultural shift has been a good thing. But should you assume that marriage is still out of the question when you're 25? I'm not suggesting that you decide ahead of time that you will get married in your 20s. I'm just pointing out that you shouldn't exclude the possibility. If you get married in your 20s, it is likely to be a startup. What are the advantages of a startup marriage? For one thing, you will both have memories of your life together when it was all still up in the air. You'll have fun remembering the years when you went from being scared newcomers to the point at which you realized you were going to make it. 【R2】______ Marry someone with similar tastes and preferences. Which tastes and preferences? The ones that will affect life almost every day. It is absolutely crucial that you really, really like your spouse. You hear it all the time from people who are in great marriages: "I'm married to my best friend." They are being literal. A good working definition of "soul mate" is "your closest friend, to whom you are also sexually attracted." 【R3】______ One of my assumptions about you is that you are ambitious—meaning that you hope to become famous, rich or both, and intend to devote intense energy over the next few decades to pursuing those dreams. That is as it should be. But suppose you arrive at age 40, and you enjoy your work, have found your soul mate, are raising a couple of terrific kids—and recognize that you will probably never become either rich or famous. At that point, it is important to know fame and wealth do accomplish something: They cure ambition anxiety. But that's all. It isn't much. 【R4】______ Start by jarring yourself out of unreflective atheism or agnosticism. A good way to do that is to read about contemporary cosmology. That reading won't lead you to religion, but it may stop you from being unreflective. Start reading religious literature. The past hundred years have produced excellent and accessible work, much of it written by people who came to adulthood as uninvolved in religion as you are. 【R5】______ Without the slightest bit of preaching, The movie "Groundhog Day" shows the bumpy, unplanned evolution of his protagonist from a jerk to a fully realized human being—a person who has learned to experience deep, lasting and justified satisfaction with life even though he has only one day to work with. You could learn the same truths by studying Aristotle's "Ethics" carefully, but watching "Groundhog Day" repeatedly is a lot more fun.