Imagine waking up and finding the value of your assets has been halved. No, you're not an investor in one of those hedge funds(对冲基金) that failed completely. With the dollar slumping to a 26-year low against the pound, already-expensive London has become quite unaffordable. A coffee at Starbucks, just as unavoidable in England as it is in the United States, runs about $ 8. The once all-powerful dollar isn't doing a Titanic against just the pound. It is sitting at a record low against the euro and at a 30-year low against the Canadian dollar. Even the Argentine peso and Brazilian real are thriving against the dollar. The weak dollar is a source of humiliation (屈辱) , for a nation's self-esteem rests in part on the strength of its currency. It's also a potential economic problem, since a declining dollar makes imported food more expensive and exerts upward pressure on interest rates. And yet there are substantial sectors of the vast U.S. economy — from giant companies like Coca-Cola to mom-and-pop restaurant operators in Miami — for which the weak dollar is most excellent news. Many Europeans may view the U. S. as an arrogant superpower that has become hostile to foreigners. But nothing makes people think more warmly of the U.S. than a weak dollar. Through April, the total number of visitors from abroad was up 6.8 percent from last year. Should the trend continue, the number of tourists this year will finally top the 2000 peak. Many Europeans now apparently view the U.S. the way many Americans view Mexico — as a cheap place to vacation, shop and party, all while ignoring the fact that the poorer locals can't afford to join the merrymaking. The money tourists spend helps decrease our chronic trade deficit. So do exports, which, thanks in part to the weak dollar, soared 11 percent between May 2006 and May 2007. For first five months of 2007, the trade deficit actually fell 7 percent from 2006. If you own shares in large American corporations, you're a winner in the weak-dollar gamble. Last week Coca-Cola's stock bubbled to a five-year high after it reported a fantastic quarter. Foreign sales accounted for 65 percent of Coke's beverage(饮料) business. Other American companies profiting from this trend include McDonald's and IBM. American tourists, however, shouldn't expect any relief soon. The dollar lost strength the way many marriages break up — slowly, and then all at once. And currencies don't turn on a dime. So if you want to avoid the pain inflicted by the increasingly pathetic dollar, cancel that summer vacation to England and look to New England. There, the dollar is still treated with a little respect.

On behalf of the department manager, write an email to a new staff Mary to 1)welcome her, and 2) inform her about the detail. You should write about 100 words neatly on the ANSWER SHEET. Do not sign your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write your address.

Writeanessaybasedonthechartbelow.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsneatlyontheANSWERSHEET.(15points)

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

Bankers have been blaming themselves for their troubles in public. Behind the scenes, they have been taking aim at someone else; the accounting standard-setters. Their rules, moan the banks, have forced them to report enormous losses, and it's just not fair. These rules say they must value some assets at the price a third party would pay, not the price managers and regulators would like them to fetch. Unfortunately, banks' lobbying now seems to be working. The details may be unknowable, but the independence of standard-setters, essential to the proper functioning of capital markets, is being compromised. And, unless banks carry toxic assets at prices that attract buyers, reviving the banking system will be difficult. After a bruising encounter with Congress, America's Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) rushed through rule changes. These gave banks more freedom to use models to value illiquid assets and more flexibility in recognizing losses on long-term assets in their income statement. Bob Herz, the FASB's chairman, cried out against those who "question our motives. "Yet bank shares rose and the changes enhance what one lobby group politely calls "the use of judgment by management. " European ministers instantly demanded that the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) do likewise. The IASB says it does not want to act without overall planning, but the pressure to fold when it completes it reconstruction of rules later this year is strong. Charlie McCreevy, a European commissioner, warned the IASB that it did "not live in a political vacuum" but "in the real word" and that Europe could yet develop different rules. It was banks that were on the wrong planet, with accounts that vastly overvalued assets. Today they argue that market prices overstate losses, because they largely reflect the temporary illiquidity of markets, not the likely extent of bad debts. The truth will not be known for years. But bank's shares trade below their book value, suggesting that investors are skeptical. And dead markets partly reflect the paralysis of banks which will not sell assets for fear of booking losses, yet are reluctant to buy all those supposed bargains. To get the system working again, losses must be recognized and dealt with. America's new plan to buy up toxic assets will not work unless banks mark assets to levels which buyers find attractive. Successful markets require independent and even combative standard-setters. The FASB and IASB have been exactly that, cleaning up rules on stock options and pensions, for example, against hostility from special interests. But by giving in to critics now they are inviting pressure to make more concessions.

Children need exercise. Parents often worry that 【C1】______time for athletics or even for just playing on the Jungle Jim is going to take away from their kids" 【C2】______achievement. But actually, the【C3】______is true. There have been analyses of huge numbers of studies that all show that kids who are【C4】______are better in school, get better grades, and have higher【C5】______scores than kids who lack of exercise. And that is probably because【C6】______the lifespan, even into old age, there"s a strong correlation between a healthy heart and a healthy brain. The brain is the most【C7】______organ that your circulatory system has to【C8】______. It takes up a lot of the body"s oxygen and a lot of the body"s【C9】______. And unlike most of your【C10】______your brain can"t live very long【C11】______that blood supply. You cut blood supply off for about five minutes and parts of the brain start dying. So blocked arteries and little clots that cut off blood flow to the brain in older people are a【C12】______source of cognitive difficulty and cognitive deterioration with age. And even in little kids, being physically fit clearly【C13】______intellectual performance. The other thing parents should be thinking about is that in childhood your kid needs about 90 minutes a day of active【C14】______, and parents should really【C15】______, I think, on making sure that that"s fun, first of all. You don"t want to【C16】______exercise as punishment. And you also, I think, want to have them doing something that could potentially continue into adulthood.【C17】______much your kids like climbing trees, they"re not going to be doing that when they"re 40, not most of us anyway. And【C18】______you give them a sport or a taste for hiking or a taste for yoga, something that grownups do, you【C19】______reduce the chance that they"re going to be one of the large numbers of people who are active children who grow into inactive adults. Usually that【C20】______happens around the age of 13 or so.

Directions: Our society is full of competition, which is inevitable. Generally speaking, competition contributes to progress in society. In this section, you are asked to write an essay on the importance of competition. You can provide specific reasons and examples to support your idea. You should write at least 150 words.

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

【C1】______the way it feels, loneliness often has nothing to do with being alone. For some people, feelings of【C2】______are sharpest during times that are in fact defined by togetherness—celebrations or the holidays, for instance. 【C3】______a bustling shopping mall or a buzzing holiday party, and even within a crowd—or perhaps especially in a crowd—it's possible to feel unbearably alone. New research from experts in neuroscience and social science may give us some【C4】______as to why. Although we tend to think of it as a self-contained emotional state—a condition that【C5】______people individually, either by circumstance or by means of an antisocial personality—researchers now say that loneliness is more far-reaching than that. John Cacioppo, a psychologist at the University of Chicago, believes it is a social【C6】______that exists within a society and can【C7】______through it like a disease. And while everyone feels lonely once in a while, for some it becomes a(n)【C8】______condition, one that has been【C9】______with more serious psychological ills like【C10】______, sleep disfunction, high blood pressure and even a(n)【C11】______risk of dementia in older age. Cacioppo and his team【C12】______on the children in Framingham. The results were【C13】______: If one person reported feeling lonely at one【C14】______, his closest connections (either family or close friends) were 52% more【C15】______to also report feeling lonely two years later. The effect was strongest among those in close relationships, declining【C16】______the connections became more distant, but remained【C17】______up to three degrees of separation—【C18】______one lonely person could influence whether his friend's friend's friend felt lonely. "Loneliness has been【C19】______in the past as depression, introversion, shyness or poor social skills," says Cacioppo. "Those turn out not to be right. Research we and others have done suggests that it really is a fundamental human motivational state very much like hunger, thirst or pain."【C20】______simply reflecting the emotional state of one person, Cacioppo says, loneliness is more like an indicator of the social health of our species on the whole—a temperature reading.

It is just one example of the growing concern over the increasing power consumption and environmental impact of computers. A study found that the power consumption of data centers doubled between 2000 and 2005, and now accounts for 1.2% of American electricity consumption, though other estimates put the figure at 4%. Companies now spend as much as 10% of their technology budgets on energy, says Rakesh Kumar of Gartner, a consultancy. Power consumption has increased because of the rise of the internet, of course, but also because of way in which computers have historically been designed; to maximize performance at all costs. Between 1996 and 2006, the number of servers in use went from 6 million to 28 million and the average power consumption of each server grew from 150 watts to 400 watts. But things are now starting to change and the computer industry has been seized with enthusiasm for "green computing".

It is a commonplace among moralists that you cannot get happiness by pursuing it. This is only true if you pursue it【C1】______. Gamblers at Monte Carlo are pursuing money, and most of them lose it instead, but there are other ways of pursuing money, which often【C2】______. So it is with happiness. If you pursue it【C3】______drink, you are forgetting the hangover. Epicurus pursued it by living a life surrounded by friends and eating only dry bread,【C4】______by a little cheese on feast days. His【C5】______proved successful in his case, but he was not healthy, and most people would need something more【C6】______. For most people, the pursuit of happiness, 【C7】______supplemented in various ways, is too abstract and theoretical to be adequate【C8】______a personal rule of life. But I think that whatever personal rule of life you may choose it should not, except in rare and heroic cases, be incompatible with happiness. There are a great many people who have all the【C9】______conditions of happiness, i.e. health and a sufficient income, and who,【C10】______, are profoundly unhappy. In such cases it would seem as if the【C11】______must lie with a wrong theory as to how to live. In one sense, we may say that any theory as to how to live is wrong. We imagine ourselves more different from the animals than we are. Animals live on【C12】______, and are happy as long as external conditions are【C13】______. If you have a cat it will enjoy life if it has food and warmth and opportunities for a(n)【C14】______night on the tiles. Your needs are more complex than those of your cat, but they still have their basis in【C15】______. In civilized societies, especially in English-speaking societies, this is too【C16】______to be forgotten. People propose to themselves some one paramount objective, and【C17】______all impulses that do not minister to it. A businessman may be so【C18】______to grow rich that to this end he【C19】______health and private affections. When at last he has become rich, no【C20】______remains to him except pushing other people to imitate his noble example.

BSection III Writing/B

Mass transportation revised the social and economic fabric of the American city in three fundamental ways. It speeded up physical expansion, it sorted out people and land uses, and it【C1】______the inherent instability of urban life.【C2】______opening vast areas of unoccupied land for residential expansion, the buses,【C3】______. commuter trains, and electric trolleys pulled settled regions outward two to four times more【C4】______from city centers than they were in the pre-modern era In 1850, for example, the borders of Boston lay【C5】______two miles from the old business district; by the turn of the century the【C6】______extended ten miles. Now those who could afford it could live far removed from the old city center and still【C7】______there for work, shopping, and【C8】______. The new accessibility of land around the periphery of almost every major city【C9】______an explosion of real estate development and fueled what we now【C10】______as urban sprawl. Between 1890 and 1920, for example, some 250,000 new residential lots were recorded within the borders of Chicago,【C11】______of them located in outlying areas. Over the same period, another 550,000 were plotted outside the city limits【C12】______within the metropolitan area. Anxious to take advantage of the possibilities of commuting, real estate developers【C13】______800,000 potential building sites to the Chicago region in just thirty years—lots that could have housed five to six million people. Of course, many were never【C14】______; there was always a huge surplus of subdivided, but vacant, land around Chicago and other cities. These【C15】______present a feature of residential expansion【C16】______the growth of mass transportation: urban sprawl was essentially unplanned. It was【C17】______by thousands of small investors who paid little care to coordinated land use or to【C18】______land users. Those who purchased and prepared land for residential purposes, particularly land near or outside city borders【C19】______transit lines and middle-class inhabitants were anticipated, did so to create demand as much as to respond to it. Chicago is a prime example of this【C20】______. Real estate subdivision there proceeded much faster than population growth.

Directions: We see a lot of advertisements almost everyday and everywhere. Some advertisements are good, but some are not so good. In this section, you are asked to write an essay on the positive/negative effects of some advertisements. You can take either stand and provide specific reasons and examples to support your idea. You should write at least 150 words.

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

Almost every year since the end of the financial crisis has started with rosy expectations among American forecasters, and this one is no different. Stock markets are buoyant, consumer confidence is improving, and economic seers are raising their growth forecasts for 2014. America"s S&P 500 share index is at a record high, after rising 30% in 2013—the biggest annual gain in almost two decades. Powered by America, global growth of close to 4% , on a purchasing-power-parity basis, seems possible. That would be nearly a full percentage point faster than 2013, and the best showing for several years. Yet amid the new-year cheer, it is worth remembering that almost every year since the financial crisis upbeat expectations have been disappointed. The biggest danger this time round is the optimism itself. All around the rich world, things are looking better. Britain"s recovery is gathering pace. Japan"s economy seems strong enough to cope with the imminent rise in its consumption tax. Even Europe"s prospects are less dismal. But America is driving this recovery. America"s growth rests on strong foundations. First, house-hold and corporate balance-sheets are in good shape. Unlike Europeans, who have barely reduced their private debt, Americans have put the hangover from the financial crisis behind them. The revival in house prices is testament to that. Second, thanks to cheap energy, years of wage restraint and a relatively weak dollar, America is competitive. These two factors have combined to produce faster job growth which, along with higher share prices, suggests stronger consumer spending and higher investment ahead. Finally, the fiscal squeeze is abating. In 2013 the federal government took 1. 75% of GDP out of the economy with tax rises and spending cuts. The recently agreed budget deal will help cut the fiscal squeeze to 0. 5% of GDP this year. All these factors could boost America"s growth to around 3% in 2014, well above its trend rate. More spending by American firms and households will, in turn, buoy demand for goods and services from everywhere from China to Germany. America"s appetite for foreign wares is not what it once was, but its economy is so big that faster spending will push up exports around the globe. The resulting support for growth will, in turn, improve domestic confidence from Europe to Japan.

You are going to read a list of headings and a text. Choose the most suitable heading from the list[A]to[G]for each numbered paragraph (41-45). There are two extra subheadings which you do not need to use. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)[A]Work passively so that the company can make you leave early with a compensation. [B]Determine how you will live during early retirement. [C]Start making as much money as you can. [D]Look for passive income. [E]Figure out how much you need to save in order to retire early. [F]Work out a plan to cut expenses after early retirement. [G]Figure out how much you will realistically spend in retirement. Most people think about retirement in some sense. You may be one of the "average" people looking for retirement at 65, or you may be someone who is aiming to retire early. Early retirement may not be for everyone: it usually means that you have to go to some form of extreme in order to reach it. You may have to work long hours, cut your expenses a good amount, or even both. However, I've never heard a complaint from those who retire early. Also, there are many websites that talk a lot about early retirement that you may want to read if you are serious about having this goal. 【R1】______ You need to really think about how you want to spend your retirement in order to determine how you will reach early retirement. Will you be traveling the world? Will you move to a cheaper foreign country? Will you have children? Will you have grandchildren? How will you pay for anything medical that arises? 【R2】______ For some reason, most think that they will spend less when they are in retirement. However, that is not always the case. You will have more free time and therefore will have more time to possibly spend money. Also, you will have to start paying for your own health insurance if it is currently being covered by your employer. The cost of this may shock you if you are not used to it. 【R3】______ Of course, the big factor of whether or not you can retire early is whether you actually have enough retirement funds. You need to figure out exactly how much you need to retire and how you can stretch that amount for decades to come. For example, if you want to retire in 10 years at the age of 35, you need to figure out exactly how much you need to survive in order to stretch your retirement funds for almost another 50 or 60 years. 【R4】______ One way to reach early retirement is to make as much money as you realistically can. Definitely do not engage in anything illegal, but try to get as many promotions and pay raises as you can. Work hard and know what your next step to reach that next pay level is. This is where certain people aren't interested in early retirement. Do you want a lifelong job that you love? Or do you want a job that will allow you to retire early? Usually it will be hard to have both. There are many fields that you may be interested in to make more money. You can go into engineering, sales, certain financial sector jobs and more. Or you could work a day job and earn extra income on the side as well. 【R5】______ If your goal is early retirement and you no longer want to work, you may want to look into making monthly income through passive sources. This way you are still bringing in money each month, but all that is required from you is occasional maintenance. Ideas for passive income include rental properties, investing in dividend-paying stocks, and more.

Look at your smartphone. Think about the decisions you will make on it today. You may snatch a dinner【C1】______, tell your spouse you're running late, or【C2】______a response to an email from your boss. But you might also decide that the light【C3】______the trees is worth an Instagram. You may write something on Facebook about the【C4】______of seeing your 5-year-old make a new friend at the park, or the frustration of watching your father get old and need to move into a home. You may choose a song on Spotify,【C5】______a movie on Netflix, or open a Kindle book. You may decide how to【C6】______a photo to send to a friend or lover. It's easy to think of our【C7】______revolutions as purely technological achievements.【C8】______microprocessors let everyone have a PC at home. Internet allowed computers to talk to each other. But that doesn't【C9】______the reasons these breakthroughs mattered so much to us. At their core, these were also creative revolutions. The PC didn't truly touch us【C10】______the rise of desktop publishing, followed by the rise of multimedia development tools, followed by the rise of web development tools. Its emotional power arrived with the ability to create amazing things on it.【C11】______, the Internet revolution really took off when we used it not just to download facts and figures but as a【C12】______to share music, writing, movies, and pictures. The number one site on the web may be Google,【C13】______number two and three are Facebook and YouTube,【C14】______—both primarily outlets for personal【C15】______. We created the desktop computer and the Internet as tools for efficiency, productivity, and communication. But they came to have real meaning for us【C16】______our natural creative drive took them over. Now it's the phone's turn. The smartphone began with a promise of productivity. Smartphones let us send messages【C17】______launching a computer, that's what made them【C18】______. The smartphone, like the PC and the Internet before it, has【C19】______a unique outlet for our creative impulses, and it will【C20】______our creative lives even more fundamentally.

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

Suppose last weekend you went to Brian"s home and enjoyed hospitality from his family. Write him a letter to 1) thank him, and 2) invite him to your home. You should write about 100 words. Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write your address.