The lives of the Ancient Greeks revolved around eris, a concept by which they defined the universe. They believed that the world existed in a condition of opposites. If there was good, then there was evil, if there was love, then there was hatred; joy, then sorrow; war then peace; and so on. The Greeks believed that good eris occured when one held a balanced outlook on life and coped with problems as they arose. It was a kind of ease of living that came from trying to bring together the great opposing forces in nature. Bad eris was evident in the violent conditions that ruled men's lives. Although these things were found in nature and sometimes could not be controlled, it was believed that bad eris occurred when one ignored a problem, letting it grow larger until it destroyed not only that person, but his family as well. The Ancient Greeks saw eris as a goddess: Eris, the Goddess of Discord, better known as Trouble. One myth that expresses this concept of bad eris deals with the marriage of King Peleus and the river goddess Thetis. Zeus, the supreme ruler, learns that Thetis would bear a child strong enough to destroy its father. Not wanting to father his own ruin, Zeus convinces Thetis to marry a human, a mortal whose child could never challenge the gods. He promises her, among other things, the greatest wedding in all of Heaven and Earth and allows the couple to invite whomever they please. This is one of the first mixed marriages of Greek Mythology and the lesson learned from it still applies today. They do invite everyone. . . except Eris, the Goddess of Discord. In other words, instead of facing the problems brought on by a mixed marriage, they turn their backs on them. They refused to deal directly with their problems and the result is tragic. In her fury, Eris arrives, ruins the wedding, causes a jealous feud between the three major goddesses over a golden apple, and sets in place the conditions that lead to the Trojan War. The war would take place 20 years in the future, but it would result in the death of the only child of the bride and groom, Achilles. Eris would destroy the parents' hopes for their future, leaving the couple with no legitimate heirs to the throne. Hence, when we are told," If you don't invite trouble, trouble comes," it means that if we don't deal with our problems, our problems will deal with us. . . with a vengeance! It is easy to see why the Greeks considered many of their myths learning myths, for this one teaches us the best way to defeat that which can destroy us.

If you've ever pushed back your bedtime to watch just one more episode of Orange Is the New Black, or lay in bed wide-eyed after streaming three exhilarating hours of Game of Thrones, this new research probably won't surprise you. A new study in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine is the first to link binge-watching with poorer sleep quality, more fatigue, and increased insomnia. Not only does on-demand TV tempt us to keep watching episode after episode, say the study's authors , but the shows are also designed to draw us in, boost suspense, and emotionally invest in plotlines and characters. This can lead to excitement and increased arousal, the research shows, which can translate into "increased cognitive alertness" and consequently an inability to get the shuteye you need. Interestingly, no relationship was found between sleep problems and regular television watching, during which viewers typically switch from one program to another. Co-author Jan Van den Bulck, PhD, professor of communication studies at the University of Michigan, says his study does not prove that binge-watching directly affects sleep quality, but it provides good evidence that the two are linked. There are several ways in which streaming shows might keep us from scoring slumber, he adds. The study involved 423 young adults, ages 18 to 25, who completed online surveys about how often they watched television, both conventional TV and streaming services. They were also asked how frequently they " binge-watched" shows, defined as watching multiple consecutive episodes of the same show in one sitting, on any type of screen. They also answered questions about their sleep quality and how tired (or alert) they felt throughout the day. More than 80% of the participants identified themselves as binge watchers, with 20% of that group binge-watching at least a few times a week in the previous month. A little more than half of binge-watchers said they tended to view three to four episodes in one sitting, and the average binge session was just over 3 hours. Men binged less frequently than women, but their viewing sessions were nearly twice as long on average.

In this part, you are asked to write an essay according to the information below. You should write more than 150 words neatly on ANSWER SHEET 2. (15 points) 近年来，火车提速一直是一个热门话题。对此，有些人持肯定态度，认为火车提速能带来很多便利。但也有些人持否定态度，他们认为火车提速带来的弊要多于利。请谈谈你的看法。

Aging poses a serious challenge to OECD (Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development) countries, in particular, how to pay for future public pension liabilities. And early retirement places an【C1】______ burden on pension financing. There is no easy solution, but【C2】______ retirement could help. Early retirement may seem like a worthy individual goal, but it is a socially【C3】______ one, and makes the present public pension system difficult to sustain for long. The【C4】______ reason is that more people are retiring early and living longer. That means more retirees depending on the【C5】______ of those in work for their income. The【C6】______ is worrying. In the next 50 years, low fertility rates and【C7】______ life expectancy in OECD countries will cause this old-age dependency rate to roughly double【C8】______ size. Public pension payments, which afford 30% ~ 80% of total retirement incomes in OECD countries, are【C9】______ to rise, on average, by over three percentage points in GDP and by as much as eight percentage points in some countries.【C10】______ is the pressure on pension funds that there is a danger of today's workers not getting the pensions they expected or felt they【C11】______ for. Action is needed,【C12】______ simply aiming to reduce the【C13】______ (and cost) of public pensions, or trying to【C14】______ the role of privately funded pensions within the system, though necessary steps, may be【C15】______ to deal with the dependency challenge. After years of【C16】______ early retirement schemes to avoid【C17】______ and higher unemployment, many governments are now looking【C18】______ persuading people to stay in work until they are older. Surely, the thinking goes, if we are healthier now and jobs are physically less【C19】______ and unemployment is down, then perhaps the【C20】______ rate should rise anew.

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

It used to be so straightforward (直接的). A team of researchers working together in the laboratory would submit the results of their research to a journal. A journal editor would then remove the author's names and affiliations(附属机构) from the paper and send it to their peers for review, depending on the comments received, the editor would accept the paper for publication or decline it. Copyright rested with the journal publishers, and researchers seeking knowledge of the results would have to subscribe to the journal. No longer. The Internet—and pressure from funding agencies, who are questioning why commercial publishers are making money from government-funded research by restricting access to it— is making access to scientific results a reality. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has just issued a report describing the far-reaching consequences of this. The report, by John Houghton of Victoria University in Australia and Graham Vickery of the OECD, makes heavy reading for publishers who have, so far, made handsome profits. But it goes further than that. It signals a change in what has, until now, been a key element of scientific endeavor. The value of knowledge and the return on the public investment in research depends, in part, upon wide distribution and ready access. It is big business. In America, the core scientific publishing market is estimated at between $7 billion and $11 billion. The International Association of Scientific Technical and Medical Publisher says that there are more than 2,000 publishers worldwide specializing in these subjects. They publish more than 1.2 million articles each year in some 16,000 journals. This is now changing. According to the OECD report, some 75% of scholarly journals are now online. Entirely new business models are emerging; three main ones were identified by the report's authors. There is the so-called big deal, where institutional subscribers pay for access to a collection of online journal titles through site-licensing agreements. There is open-access publishing, typically supported by asking the author (or his employer) to pay for the paper to be published. Finally, there are open-access archives(档案) , where organizations such as universities or international laboratories support institutional repositories(仓库). Other models exist that are hybrids of these three, such as delayed open-access, where journals allow only subscribers to read a paper for the first six months, before making it freely available to everyone who wishes to see it. All this could change the traditional form of the peer-review process, at least for the publication of papers.

Suppose you have received a job offer from the ABC Company. However, you are not going to work in that company. Write a letter to 1) decline the offer, and 2) explain your reasons. You should write about 100 words. Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write your address.

BSection III Writing/B

What would make a smoker more likely to quit, a big reward for succeeding or a little penalty for failing? That is what researchers wanted to know when they assigned a large group of CVS employees(CVS Caremark is the country's largest drugstore chain by sales), their relatives and friends to different smoking cessation programs. "Adding a bit of a stick was much better than a pure carrot. These large employers are spending an average of $800 to $900 per employee per year, but in ways that are often blind to normal human psychology" said Dr. Scott Halpern, who led the study. The trial was intended to change that. Researchers randomly assigned the participants to a number of program options and let them decide whether they wanted to participate. The penalty program required participants to deposit $150; six months later, those who had quit smoking would get the deposit back, along with a $650 reward. In the reward-only program, participants were simply offered an $800 payment if they stayed off cigarettes for six months. The trial, which was described in The New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, was the largest yet to test whether offering people financial incentives could lead to better health. Researchers found that offering incentives was far more effective in getting people to stop smoking than the traditional approach of giving free smoking cessation help, such as counseling or nicotine replacement therapy like gum, medication or patches. But they also found that requiring a $150 deposit that would be lost if the person failed to stay off cigarettes for six months nearly doubled the chances of success. "This is an original set of findings," said Cass R. Sunstein, a Harvard law professor who helped develop some influential ideas in the field of behavioral economics, notably that if the social environment can be changed—for example, by posting simple warnings—people can be nudged into better behavior. "They could be applied to many health issues, like alcoholism, or whenever people face serious self-control problems." Over all, success eluded most of the study participants. More than 80 percent of smokers in the most popular pure rewards group were still smoking at the end of the study. Even so, researchers say, their success rate was far greater than for those who got the traditional treatment. Smoking is the largest cause of preventable death in the United States. Diseases linked to it kill more than 480,000 Americans a year. And even a small decline could have a big health effect.

American workers have had no news this good for years. In June employers added 288,000 jobs, bringing the total for the year to 1. 4 million, the best six-month stretch since 2006. Unemployment has sunk to 6. 1%, the lowest rate in almost six years. It could hit levels long regarded as "full employment" within a year. Help-wanted signs are exploding, with vacancies up by 20% since January. Such a prosperous labour market is usually the token of a booming economy. Not now. In the first quarter gross domestic product fell by 2. 9% at an annual rate, the worst showing since the recession. This was a result in part of bad weather. Yet the second quarter will only be strong enough to make up the ground lost in the first. Economists had thought 2014 would be the best year since the recession; with growth in the first half of around zero, it is shaping up to be the worst.

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

If you've got an ear for languages, a skill of coding or a steady hand and don't faint at the sight of blood then your career looks rewarding and stable—translator, web developer and surgeon have been named as the three best jobs in the UK Job search engine Adzuna analyzed more than 2,000 job【C1】______to identify these three as the most highly rated positions,【C2】______a combination of factors including their high levels of job security, pay and income growth potential. But at the other end of the【C3】______miner, tourist guide and builder's laborer are the bottom-rated roles because of their high-pressure deadlines, long hours and low salaries. Adzuna used deadlines, competitiveness and physical and【C4】______risk to rate the most pressurized jobs, giving additional weight to levels of【C5】______physical danger. Taking the heaviest toll on the【C6】______are working as a doctor, pilot, journalist and fireman. Flora Lowther, head of research at the job search engine, said: "Listing every【C7】______vacancy in the UK and studying the behavior of millions of monthly job seekers, gives us a unique【C8】______into employee satisfaction levels and perceptions in today's job market. Job seekers should be taking【C9】______of this research when thinking about their next career move." Not【C10】______in our increasingly wired world, web developer comes out on top as the most【C11】______job after considering factors including promotion potential, income growth and job security. The career also【C12】______from a lack of competition, employer demand, rising wages and excellent working environments【C13】______it to the top of the pile. What's more, roles in IT and engineering are【C14】______by workers to offer the best prospects. Ms Lowther added: "The tech market now【C15】______better than other sectors such as finance and engineering【C16】______job availability. However,what【C17】______growth is a lack of talent." 【C18】______at the other end of the spectrum, Adzuna's research found that the growth of technology had a negative impact【C19】______more traditional roles. Jobs like travel agents, postmen, supermarket cashier and factory workers are becoming increasingly【C20】______in today's employment market"

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

Your camera is snatched. Will you ever see it a-gain? Probably not. But it may send postcards from its new owner. The【C1】______of recovery of lost or stolen cameras have improved【C2】______newer devices combined with online photo-sharing services create a digital track one can【C3】______with the right tools. Dozens of cameras from major manufacturers【C4】______the serial number found on a camera"s body into its software as well. The serial number is then included in the metadata with which every picture taken by the camera is tagged. When a photo is uploaded at sites like Flickr, they can, therefore, be【C5】______and indexed. Mr. Westin"s company, which makes the Gadget-Trak theft-recovery applications, has begun to create a searchable image database for lost cameras. When the owners upload the tagged photos they provide the【C6】______link. Once the database is established, the company will compare it with that of a list of missing serial numbers【C7】______by police. Of course, even if a camera"s serial number crops up,【C8】______the device"s current location need not be【C9】______. However, there is also good news: posted pictures may give clues【C10】______its current location. Even more helpfully, more and more cameras now come 【C11】______a GPS receiver for inserting geographical coordinates into a picture"s metadata. Flickr won"t show the uploading account holder such information【C12】______a user explicitly permits it. Photos posted in other ways, 【C13】______, may leak this information more casually. With enough such【C14】______, police could ask a photo service or obtain a(n)【C15】______to retrieve location data stored in the user"s account. Mr. Westin says that photographers can examine an image taken by their camera【C16】______losing it and extract the serial number. He wants to release a tool to make this【C17】______. All this is, of course, a double-edged【C18】______. Any information that helps find stolen 【C19】______may also be used to track camera owners" activities. Tools to【C20】______such data before photos are uploaded to the internet are available. And thieves know it.

Directions: Write a letter to your university library, making suggestions for improving its service. You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET 2. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write the address. (10 points)

Universities are in a seemingly self-contradictory position. As Stefan Collini points out in his book, these ancient【C1】______have never been so numerous or so important They receive more public money than they ever did. They are praised as the【C2】______of economic growth and technological advance.【C3】______they are frequently defensive and troubled, attacked by politicians and【C4】______a clear sense of purpose and direction. Mr Collini, professor of the University of Cambridge, is eager to rebuild their【C5】______. Universities, he says, "【C6】______a home for attempts to extend and deepen human understanding in ways which are,【C7】______, disciplined and free." It is the side-effects of this activity that public debate has seized【C8】______: the impact on the student"s capacity for understanding, or on a country"s development of new technologies.【C9】______these are not the core purpose of a university. In making his case, Mr Collini rejects the definition of Clark Kerr, the president of the University of California, who【C10】______a university as "a series of individual faculty entrepreneurs held together by a common resentment over parking".【C11】______he goes back to Cardinal Newman. Newman has a way with words: "A university training is the great ordinary means to a great but ordinary end; it aims at raising the intellectual tone of society... It is the education which gives a man a clear,【C12】______view of his own【C13】______and judgments, a truth in developing them, an eloquence in【C14】______them and a force in urging them." Mr Collini is moved by Newman"s insistence that a liberal education is not about what students learn or what skills they【C15】______but "the perspective they have on the place of their knowledge in a wider【C16】______of human understanding". Universities will always feel the【C17】______between the intellectual purity that Mr Collini demands and the【C18】______business of picking and preparing the future middle class.【C19】______these two roles is the mark of a great university. Indeed, the stress created by these【C20】______roles is what helps even the most ordinary academic retain some independence of thought and intellectual energy.

BPart B/B

BPart BDirections: Write an essay of 160-200 words based on the following information./B

BPart BDirections: Write an essay of 160-200 words based on the following information./B

Suppose you found a ring in the reading room of the library in your university. Write a found notice to 1) inform others what you found, and 2) seek its owner. You should write about 100 words. Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead.