Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthedrawing.Inyourwriting,youshould1)describethedrawingbriefly,2)explainitsintendedmeaning,and3)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150words.
Read the following text and answer the questions by choosing the most suitable subtitle from the list A-G for each numbered paragraph(41-45). There are two extra subtitles which you do not need to use. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.(10 points) [A]Leave them behind [B]Change the subject [C]Limit the time you spend with them [D]Don't make their problems your problems [E]Don' t pretend that their behavior is "OK". [F]Talk about solutions, not problems [G]Speak up for yourself Some people will have a rain cloud hanging over them, no matter what the weather is outside. Their negative attitude is toxic to your own moods, and you probably feel like there is little you can do about it. But that couldn't be farther from the truth. If you want to effectively deal with negative people and be a champion of positivity, then your best route is to take definite action through some of the steps below. 【R1】______ First, let' s get this out of the way. You can be more positive than a cartoon sponge, but even your enthusiasm has a chance of being afflicted by the constant negativity of a friend. In fact, negativity has been proven to damage your health physically, making you vulnerable to high levels of stress and even cardiac disease. There's no reason to get hurt because of someone else's bad mood. Though this may be a little tricky depending on your situation, working to spend slightly less time around negative people will keep your own spirits from slipping as well. 【R2】______ This is an easy trap to fall into. Point out to the person that their constant negativity isn' t a good thing. We don't want to do this because it's far easier to let someone sit in their woes, and we'd rather just stay out of it. But if you want the best for this person, avoid giving the false impression that their negativity is normal. 【R3】______ Though I consider empathy a gift, it can be a dangerous thing. When we hear the complaints of a friend or family member, we typically start to take on their burdens with them. This is a bad habit to get into, especially if this is a person who is almost exclusively negative. These types of people are prone to embellishing and altering a story in order to gain sympathy. Why else would they be sharing this with you? 【R4】______ When you suspect that a conversation is starting to take a turn for the negative, be a champion of positivity by changing the subject. Of course, you have to do this without ignoring what the other person said. Acknowledge their comment, but move the conversation forward before the pleasure gained from complaining takes hold of either of you. 【R5】______ Sometimes, changing the subject isn't an option if you want to deal with negative people, but that doesn' t mean you can' t still be positive. I know that when someone begins dumping complaints on me, I have a hard time knowing exactly what to say. The key is to measure your responses as solution-based. You can do this by asking questions like, "Well, how could this be resolved?" or, "How do you think they feel about it?" Use discernment to find an appropriate response that will help your friend manage their perspectives.
College students are more stressed out than ever before—at least according to the latest findings of a large, national survey that has been conducted annually for the last 25 years. The survey includes more than 200,000 students【C1】______nearly 300 colleges and asks them to【C2】______how their own mental health【C3】______their classmates" —for example, is it "above average" or in the "highest 10%"? This【C4】______unusual methodology typically results in the statistical Lake Woebegon effect in which most people【C5】______to overestimate themselves in relation to others (it refers to the fictional Lake Woebegon, where "all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking and all the children are above average").【C6】______the most recent results indicate that fewer and fewer freshmen feel like they are in top form in terms of【C7】______stress. So what"s going on? Obviously, the economy and high unemployment might【C8】______the increase in stress. A much more precise large study recently found that empathy【C9】______college students had declined 40% since 2000—and since caring relationships are【C10】______to mental (and physical) health, a decline in empathy could also produce a decline in mental health and coping. My final point brings us back to my earlier post on a Stanford study that looked at the psychological【C11】______of comparing ourselves to others. It found that the way people are incline to【C12】______their negative emotions while broadcasting their happy ones makes the rest of us feel somehow "less than"—【C13】______all our friends and neighbors have better lives than we【C14】______ This【C15】______, too, might tie into why the new survey, "The American Freshman: National Norms, Fall 2011," found that students are feeling less【C16】______about their level of emotional and mental stability. If all the students around you are desperately trying to【C17】______a happy face—and you【C18】______that face as a true reflection of their【C19】______selves, even as you work to hide your own【C20】______—well, it"s not surprising that so many students might be getting a bit strained.
Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthepiechart.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150words.
If I ask you what constitutes "bad" eating, the kind that leads to obesity and a variety of connected diseases, you're likely to answer, "Salt, fat and sugar." Yet that' s not a(n) 【C1】______answer. We don't know everything about the dietary 【C2】______ to chronic disease, but the best-qualified people argue that real food is more likely to promote health and less likely to cause disease than hyper-processed food. And we can further【C3】______that message: Minimally processed food—Real Food— should 【C4】______ our diets. Real food solves the salt / fat / sugar problem. Yes, excess salt may cause high blood pressure, and 【C5】______ sodium intake in people with high blood pressure helps.【C6】______salt is only one of several risk factors in developing high blood pressure, and those who eat a diverse diet and few processed foods need not【C7】______about salt intake. "Fat" is a complicated topic. Most naturally occurring fats are probably essential, but too much of some fats seems【C8】______. Eat real food【C9】______your fat intake will probably be fine. "Sugar" has come to 【C10】______the entire group of processed, nutritionally worthless caloric sweeteners. All appear to be damaging because they're added sugars, as 【C11】______to naturally occurring ones.【C12】______: Sugar is not the only enemy. The enemy is hyper-processed food,【C13】______sugar. We know that eating real food is a general solution, but a large part of our dietary problems might【C14】______from the consumption of caloric sweeteners and / or hyper-processed carbohydrate. For example, how to limit the intake of sugar? A soda tax is a(n)【C15】______, proper labeling would be helpful, and—quite possibly most important,【C16】______it' s going to take us a generation or two to get out of this mess—restrictions【C17】______marketing sweet "food" to children. There's no reason to 【C18】______ action on those kinds of moves. But let's get the science straight so that firm,【C19】______, sound recommendations can be made【C20】______the best possible evidence. And meanwhile, let's also get the simple message straight: It's "Eat Real Food."
It is a wise father that knows his own child, but today a man can boost his paternal (fatherly) wisdom — or at least confirm that he's the kid's dad. All he needs to do is to shell out $30 for paternity testing kit (PTK) at his local drugstore — and another $120 to get the results. More than 60 000 people have purchased the PTKs since they first become available without prescriptions last year, according to Doug Fogg, chief operating officer of Identigene, which makes the over-the-counter(无需处方的) kits. More than two dozen companies sell DNA tests directly to the public, ranging in price from a few hundred dollars to more than $2 500. Among the most popular; paternity and kinship(亲属关系) testing, which adopted children can use to find their biological relatives and families can use to track down kids put up for adoption. DNA testing is also the latest rage among passionate genealogists (系谱学者)— and supports businesses that offer to search for a family's geographic roots. Most tests require collecting cells by swabbing saliva (唾液) in the mouth and sending it to the company for testing. All tests require a potential candidate with whom to compare DNA. But some observers are skeptical. "There's a kind of false precision being hawked by people claiming they are doing ancestry testing," says Troy Duster, a New York University sociologist. He notes that each individual has many ancestors — numbering in the hundreds just a few centuries back. Yet most ancestry testing only considers a single lineage, either the Y chromosome(染色体) inherited through men in a father's line or mitochondrial(线粒体的) DNA, which is passed down only from mothers. This DNA can reveal genetic information about only one or two ancestors, even though, for example, just three generations back people also have six other great-grandparents or, four generations back, 14 other great-great-grandparents. Critics also argue that commercial genetic testing is only as good as the reference collections to which a sample is compared. Databases used by some companies don't rely on data collected systematically but rather lump together information from different research projects. This means that a DNA database may have a lot of data from some regions and not others, so a person's test results may differ depending on the company that processes the results. In addition, the computer programs a company uses to estimate relationships may be patented and not subject to peer review or outside evaluation.
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
As the country with the European Union's fastest ageing population, Germany has repeatedly adjusted its pension system to avert a slow-motion demographic disaster. The biggest reform came during Angela Merkel's first term as chancellor. Then, as now, Christian Democrats were yoked with Social Democrats in a "grand coalition". In 2007 the coalition decided that the normal retirement age should gradually rise from 65 to 67. Mrs Merkel has since preached similar demographic and economic wisdom to most of her EU partners, criticizing France in particular for straying off the right path. So it comes as something of a shock that Mrs Merkel, now in her third term and running another grand coalition, is reversing course. On the campaign trail for last September's election, she promised to raise pensions for older mothers. The Social Democrats countered with promises to let certain workers retire at 63 instead of 65. As coalition partners, they will do both at once. It falls to Andrea Nahles, the labour minister and a Social Democrat who likes to wave the banner of "social justice" , to push the pension package through parliament by the summer so that it can take effect on July 1st. A previous reform let women with children born after 1992 treat three of their stay-at-home maternity years if they had worked and paid full pension contributions. The new "mother pension" will be for the 8m-9m women who took time off for children before 1992. They will be allowed to count two of those years, instead of just one, as working years for pension purposes. The second part of Mrs Nahles's reforms, retirement at 63, is aimed at people who have contributed to the pension system for at least 45 years. But Mrs Nahles wants to count not only years spent working or caring for children or other family members but also periods of short-term unemployment. Separately, she will also boost the pensions of people who cannot work due to disability, and spend more money to help them to recover. Individually, these proposals may seem noble-minded. But as a package, the plan is "shortsighted and one-sided," thinks Axel Bersch-Supan, a pension adviser at the Munich Centre for the Economics of Ageing. It benefits the older generation, which is already well looked after, at the expense of younger people who will have to pay higher contributions or taxes. "The financial and psychological costs of the pension at 63 are disastrous," Mr Bersch-Supan says. There will no longer be any incentive to keep working longer. In some cases, people may, in effect, retire at 61, register as unemployed for two years, and then draw their full pensions.
Readingthefollowingtextandmatcheachofthenumbereditemsintheleftcolumntoitscorrespondinginformationintherightcolumn.Therearetwoextrachoicesintherightcolumn.MarkyouranswersontheANSWERSHEET.(10points)Thetypicalpictureofacorporatehighflierissomeonewhosurvivesonverylittlesleep.Heorsheriseswhenitisstilldark,workslateandisstillansweringemailsattwoo'clockinthemorning.Suchpeopledoexist,ofcourse.ThelateBritishPrimeMinisterMargaretThatcher,forexample,wasfamousforoperatingonafewhours'sleep.SomeentrepreneursandWallStreettradersseemtofollowsuit.Butifyouthinkyouneedtodothesamethingtogetahead,thinkagain.Agrowingbodyofresearchisfindingthat,onthecontrary,thosewhogetagoodnight'ssleepareusuallymoreproductiveatwork.That'sbecausesleepdoesn'tjustrestthebrain,saymedicalspecialists.Itallowsthebraintoperformvitalmaintenanceandrestorationtasks.Brainsthatgettoolittlesleepsimplycannotperformaswellasthosethatarerested."There'snodoubtthatsleepdeprivationaffectsjobperformance,"saystheDetroitMedicalCenter'sSafwanBadr."Theevidenceiscompellingthatwhenyoudonotgetenoughsleep...youarenotasproductive."Investorsshouldalsotakeheed:Numerousstudieshavefoundthatthoserunningontoolittlesleeptendtomakepoorerinvestmentdecisionsandtakeneedlessrisksaswell.CharlesCzeisler,asleepspecialistatBrighamyou'llseesimilareffectsifyousimplysleeptoolittleeachnightovertime.Forthefirsttime,newresearchhasattemptedtoputsomenumbersonthelinkbetweenmoreZzzsandmoreBenjamins.MatthewGibson,graduateresearcherintheeconomicsdepartmentoftheUniversityofCalifornia,SanDiego,comparedwagedatawithsleeptimesrecordedintheU.S.CensusBureau'sAmericanTimeUseSurvey.Hisconclusion:Forthosewhoaresleepingtoolittle,"aonehourincreaseinlongrunaveragesleepincreaseswagesby16%,equivalenttomorethanayearofschooling."Adultsneedeighthoursofsleeponaverage,expertssay.Thereissomevariationbetweenindividuals.Butwhenwearetired,wefinditmuchhardertothinkinnovativelyandtomakecreativeleaps,sayresearchers.Wefindithardertoadaptourthinkingtonewinformationortolearnnewlessons.Consider:AtEngland'sLoughboroughUniversityin1999,researchersYvonneHarrisontestedtheeffectsofsleepdeprivationonasmallgroupofhealthyyoungparticipants.Theyweregivencomplexbusiness-situationtasksintheformofagame,aswellassomecriticalreadingtasks.Thosewhowentshortonsleepwereabletokeepupwiththereading,theyfound.Butwhenitcametothecomplexgame,"theirplaycollapsed,"theyReported.
Suppose your friend Barbara is graduating from Yale University. Write her an email to 1) congratulate her, and 2) wish her good luck during her new career. You should write about 100 words. Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write your address.
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
Suppose the students in your university have donated some money and clothes to the earthquake-stricken area in Sichuan. As the chairman of the Student Union, write a letter to the Red Cross to 1) donate these donations, and 2) express your best wishes to the people in the earthquake-stricken area. You should write about 100 words. Do not use your own name. Use "The Student Union" instead. Do not write your address.
Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthechart.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150words.
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
Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthechart.Inyourwriting,youshould1)describethechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150words.
BPart BDirections: Write an essay of 160-200 words based on the following information./B
BSection III Writing/B
Crippling health care bills, long emergency-room waits and the inability to find a primary care physician just scratch the surface of the problems that patients face daily. Primary care should be the backbone of any health care system. Countries with appropriate primary care resources score highly when it comes to health outcomes and cost. The U.S. takes the opposite approach by emphasizing the specialist rather than the primary care physician. A recent study analyzed the providers who treat Medicare beneficiaries (老年医保受惠人). The startling finding was that the average Medicare patient saw a total of seven doctors—two primary care physicians and five specialists—in a given year. Contrary to popular belief, the more physicians taking care of you don't guarantee better care. Actually, increasing fragmentation of care results in a corresponding rise in cost and medical errors. How did we let primary care slip so far? The key is how doctors are paid. Most physicians are paid whenever they perform a medical service. The more a physician does, regardless of quality or outcome, the better he's reimbursed (返还费用). Moreover, the amount a physician receives leans heavily toward medical or surgical procedures. A specialist who performs a procedure in a 30-minute visit can be paid three times more than a primary care physician using that same 30 minutes to discuss a patient's disease. Combine this fact with annual government threats to indiscriminately cut reimbursements, physicians are faced with no choice but to increase quantity to boost income. Primary care physicians who refuse to compromise quality are either driven out of business or to cash-only practices, further contributing to the decline of primary care. Medical students are not blind to this scenario. They see how heavily the reimbursement deck is stacked against primary care. The recent numbers show that since 1997, newly graduated U.S. medical students who choose primary care as a career have declined by 50%. This trend results in emergency rooms being overwhelmed with patients without regular doctors. How do we fix this problem? It starts with reforming the physician reimbursement system. Remove the pressure for primary care physicians to squeeze in more patients per hour, and reward them for optimally (最佳地) managing their diseases and practicing evidence-based medicine. Make primary care more attractive to medical students by forgiving student loans for those who choose primary care as a career and reconciling the marked difference between specialist and primary care physician salaries. We're at a point where primary care is needed more than ever. Within a few years, the first wave of the 76 million Baby Boomers will become eligible for Medicare. Patients older than 85, who need chronic care most, will rise by 50% this decade. Who will be there to treat them?
For more than two decades, U.S. courts have been limiting affirmative-action programs in universities and other areas. The legal rationale is that racial preferences are unconstitutional, even those intended to compensate for racism or intolerance. For many colleges, this means students can be admitted only on merit, not on their race or ethnicity. It has been a divisive issue across the U.S., as educators blame the prolonged reaction to affirmative-action for declines in minority admissions. Meanwhile, activists continue to battle race preferences in courts from Michigan to North Carolina. Now, chief executives of about two dozen companies have decided to plunge headfirst into this politically unsettled debate. They, together with 36 universities and 7 non-profitable organizations, formed a forum that set forth an action plan essentially designed to help colleges circumvent court-imposed restrictions on affirmative action. The CEOs' motive: "Our audience is growing more diverse, so the communities we serve benefit if our employees are racially and ethnically diverse as well" , says one CEO of a company that owns nine television stations. Among the steps the forum is pushing; finding creative yet legal ways to boost minority enrollment through new admissions policies; promoting admissions decisions that look at more than test scores; and encouraging universities to step up their minority outreach and financial aid. And to counter accusations by critics to challenge these tactics in court, the group says it will give legal assistance to colleges sued for trying them. "Diversity diminished by the court must be made up for in other legitimate, legal ways, " says, a forum member. One of the more controversial methods advocated is the so-called 10% rule. The idea is for public universities—which educate three-quarters of all U.S. undergraduates—to admit students who are in the top 10% of their high school graduating class. Doing so allows colleges to take minorities who excel in average urban schools, even if they wouldn't have made the cut under the current statewide ranking many universities use.
Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthediagram.Inyourwriting,youshould1)describethediagram,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150words.