You are a college graduate and try to find a job in a joint venture. You find from an advertisement that there is a company that suits you very well. Write a letter of application based on the following outline: 1) a brief information about yourself; 2) your ability to take the job; 3) other necessary introduction. You should write about 100 words. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter, use "Li Ming" instead. You do not need to write the address.

You wish to study at a certain foreign university. Write a letter to the admissions office of the university to ask for: 1) accommodations, 2) fees, and 3) qualifications. You should write about 100 words. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead. You do not need to write the address. (10 points)

Starting this month, roughly one quarter of the world"s population will lose sleep and gain sunlight as they set their clocks ahead for daylight saving. People may think that with the time shift, they are conserving electricity otherwise spent on lighting. But recent studies have cast doubt on the energy argument—some research has even found that it ultimately leads to greater power use. Benjamin Franklin is credited with conceiving the idea of daylight saving in 1784 to conserve candles, but the U.S. did not institute it until World War I as a way to preserve resources for the war effort. The first comprehensive study of its effectiveness occurred during the oil crisis of the 1970s, when the U.S. Department of Transportation found that daylight saving trimmed national electricity usage by roughly 1 percent compared with standard time. Scant research had been done since, during which time U.S. electricity usage patterns have changed as air conditioning and household electronics have become more pervasive, observes economist Matthew Kotchen of the University of California, Santa Barbara. But lately, changes to daylight saving policies on state and federal levels have presented investigators new chances to explore the before-and-after impacts of the clock shift. In 2006 Indiana instituted daylight saving statewide for the first time. Examining electricity usage and billing since the statewide change, Kotchen and his colleague Laura Grant unexpectedly found that daylight time led to a 1 percent overall rise in residential electricity use, costing the state an extra $9 million. Although daylight time reduces demand for household lighting, the researchers suggest that it increased demand for cooling on summer evenings and heating in early spring and late fall mornings. Not all recent analyses suggest that daylight saving is counterproductive. Instead of studying the impact daylight saving changes had on just one state, senior analyst Jeff Dowd and his colleagues at the U.S. Department of Energy investigated what effect it might have on national energy consumption, looking at 67 electric utilities across the country. In their report to Congress, they conclude that the four-week extension of daylight time saved about 0.5 percent of the nation"s electricity per day, or 1.3 trillion watt-hours in total. That amount could power 100,000 households for a year. The study did not just look at residential electricity use but commercial use as well, Dowd says. The disparities between regional and national results could reflect climate differences between states. "The effect we saw could be even worse in Florida, where air conditioning is used heavily," Kotchen suggests.

There is a common misconception that the single most important factor in science and development is the need for adequate funding for relevant research. This type of thinking—sometimes described as the "science push" model of development—tends to focus on the proportion of a country"s gross national product spent on research and development. But spending on research is part of a broader picture . An arguably larger role is played by government policies affecting the practical application of scientific knowledge. This usually involves embedding such knowledge in technological products and processes, what is widely described as "technology transfer". Technology transfer has in the past often been demonised in many development policy circles as a process by which multinational corporations become rich at the expense of poor countries—selling them products they cannot afford and keeping them politically subservient by refusing to license technical know-how. But as developing countries have become increasingly integrated into a single global economy, such thinking has changed. For regions like East Asia or Latin America, effective technology transfer, tapping into the scientific and technical knowledge of not only researchers in the North, but increasingly their own, is now recognised as essential to economic growth and social prosperity. One important theme to emerge is that technology transfer has become a complex business, with many different actors. But, just as important, is the fact that society" s poorest sectors are often forgotten in technology transfer debates. Debates raised by the poverty gap between rich and poor countries are being replaced by concerns about the gap within developing countries themselves. This should come as little surprise. In practice, the private sector tends to provide the most widely used channels for technology transfer. This is largely because the most effective mechanism for promoting rapid technology innovation is the market, with incentives for entrepreneurs and rewards, through patents, for inventors. But governments still share substantial responsibility for making technology transfer work effectively and in the national interest. They must, for example, invest in the capital and intellectual infrastructure needed for smooth technology transfer. This includes investing in university-based research and training, to ensure that a country has the knowledge and skills it needs to not only acquire but also use new technologies. Governments also need to regulate all transferred technologies—these should not just be useful, but socially acceptable as well. Governments must develop public institutions that can make such a judgement, either by adopting international criteria(on safety levels, for example)or by developing criteria of their own.

One of the hottest questions in the study of animal behavior is. "Do animals have emotions?" The simple answer is. "Of course they do. " Just look at them, listen to them, and, if you dare, smell the odors they emit when they interact with friends and foes. Look at their faces, tails, bodies and, most importantly, their eyes. What we see on the outside tells us a lot about what"s happening inside animals" heads and hearts. As a scientist who"s studied animal emotions for more than 30 years. I consider myself very fortunate. Whenever I observe or work with animals, I get to contribute to science and develop social relationships at the same time, and to me, there"s no conflict between the two. While stories about animal emotions abound, there are many lines of scientific support(what I call "science sense")about the nature of animal emotions that are rapidly accumulating from behavioral and neurobiological studies(from the emerging field called social neuroscience). Common sense and intuition also feed into and support science sense and the obvious conclusion is that mammals, at the very least, experience rich and deep emotional lives, feeling passions from pure and contagious joy during play, to deep grief and pain. Recent data also shows that birds and fish are sentient and experience pain and suffering. Prestigious scientific journals regularly publish essays on joy in rats, grief in elephants and empathy in mice. The bottom line is that we know more about animal passions than we often admit, and we can no longer ignore the pain and suffering of other beings. Many people in higher education are faced with difficult questions about the use of animals in their classrooms and research laboratories and today we must accept that there are compelling reasons stemming from scientific research to limit and perhaps stop using animals in lieu of the numerous highly effective non animal alternatives that are readily available. In scientific research there are always surprises. Just when we think we"ve seen it all, new scientific data appear that force us to rethink what we know and to revise our stereotypes. For example, spindle cells, which were long thought to exist only in humans and other great apes, have recently been discovered in humpback whales, fin whales, killer whales and sperm whales in the same area of their brains as spindle cells in human brains. This brain region is linked with social organization, empathy and intuition about the feelings of others, as well as rapid gut reactions. Spindle cells are important in processing emotions. It"s likely that if we seek the presence of spindle cells in other animals we will find them.

Global warming is already cutting substantially into potential crop yields in some countries—to such an extent that it may be a factor in the food price【C1】______that have caused worldwide stress in recent years, researchers suggest in a new study. Wheat yields in recent years were down by more than 10 percent in Russia and by a few percentage points【C2】______in India, France and China compared with【C3】______they probably would have been without rising【C4】______, according to the study. Corn yields were【C5】______a few percentage points in China, Brazil and France from what would have been【C6】______said the researchers, whose findings were published in Friday"s【C7】______of the journal Science. Some countries saw small gains from the temperature increases, however. And in all countries, the【C8】______carbon dioxide that humans are【C9】______into the air acted as a【C10】______that encouraged plant growth,【C11】______some of the losses from rising temperatures caused by that same greenhouse gas. 【C12】______, the study"s authors found that when the gains in some countries were weighed【C13】______the losses in other countries, the overall global【C14】______of climate change has been small so far losses of a few percentage points for wheat and corn from what they would have been【C15】______climate change. The general impact on production of rice and soybeans was【C16】______, with gains in some regions entirely counterbalancing losses in others. 【C17】______the authors of the study pointed out that temperature increases were expected to【C18】______in coming decades, making it likely that the challenges【C19】______food production will grow in a era when demand is expected to【C20】______sharply.

Doctors have treated the first reported case of "Internet addiction disorder" brought on by excessive use of Google Glass. In September 2013, a 31-year-old man was checked into the U.S. Navy's Substance Abuse program for alcohol addiction【C1】______. The program requires patients to refrain from alcohol, drugs and cigarettes for 35 days and takes away electronic devices at the door.【C2】______they took away his Google Glass. Doctors quickly【C3】______that the man would frequently and involuntarily【C4】______his right hand and tap his temple area, a【C5】______usually necessary to【C6】______the display of Google Glass. He was going through withdrawal from his Google Glass. And the Google Glass withdrawal was【C7】______than the alcohol withdrawal he was experiencing. After checking into the program, he exhibited【C8】______symptoms of withdrawal: frustration, irritability, aggression and cravings. His addiction also【C9】______him with short-term memory problems. The Navy serviceman【C10】______the device 18 hours a day and took it off【C11】______to sleep and bathe. He【C12】______purchased Google Glass in order to【C13】______his performance at work But after owning the glasses for two months, the device【C14】______into his sleeping hours as well. Internet addiction is commonly【C15】______with cellphones, laptops and personal computers. This is the first reported case【C16】______Google Glass. Though it is a【C17】______problem, Internet addiction does not appear in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.【C18】______, it is included in the appendix as a disorder that requires further study. While some psychiatrists believe it can be a【C19】______problem, others maintain that it is【C20】______a symptom of other psychological issues.

Next time you feel the flu coming on, think twice before reaching for painkillers—they could do more【C1】______than good. With the flu season【C2】______way across Europe and North America, millions will be taking flu【C3】______, which commonly include painkillers. The general【C4】______advice in the UK and the US is to take painkillers. But although painkillers can make you feel better they also lower fever, which can make the virus【C5】______. The first analysis of the effect of this on the【C6】______shows that painkillers taken at current levels to【C7】______fevers could cause 2, 000 flu deaths each year in the US alone. Fever is thought to be a【C8】______against viruses, because many viruses find it hard to【C9】______above our normal 37 °C. Some studies have shown that lowering fever may【C10】______virus-related infections and increase the amount of virus we can【C11】______on to others. To find out what【C12】______this might have on a flu epidemic, David Earn and his colleagues【C13】______to a 1982 study which showed that ferrets, a【C14】______animal model for human flu produced more【C15】______flu virus if their fevers were lowered with painkillers. Earn"s team used these findings to estimate how much more virus people with【C16】______flu might produce if their fevers were【C17】______. With the help of a mathematical model, Earn"s team【C18】______their estimates to the number of people a year in the US who get flu,【C19】______fever and take the drugs. They found that painkillers as used in the US could be increasing the【C20】______of ordinary winter flu by up to 5 per cent.

With 22 years on the job, Jackie Bracey could be considered a career employee of the Internal Revenue Service. But she defies any stereotype of an over-eager agent running down a reluctant taxpayer. Instead, she spends her time defending people who owe the government money. Ms. Bracey, based in Greensboro N.C. , is a taxpayer advocate, created by Congress in 1998 as part of the kinder, gentler theme adopted by the tax collection agency. Bracey and advocates at 73 other offices nationwide, backed by 2, 100 field workers and staff, go to bat for taxpayers who are in financial straits because of something the agency has done or is about to do. Though it may seem contrary to the IRS, the advocate service not only helps taxpayers, but identifies procedural problems. The main goal, though, is for the ombudsman to step into a dispute a taxpayer is having with the IRS when it appears that something the IRS is doing, or planning, would create an undue hardship on the taxpayer. This can range from speeding up resolution of a dispute that has dragged on too long, to demanding that the IRS halt a collection action that the taxpayer can show he or she "is suffering or is about to suffer a significant hardship. " Taxpayer ombudsmen have been around in one form or another since 1979, says Nina Olson, the national taxpayer advocate. But they were given much more power in 1998 when Congress decided that the workers would no longer report to regional directors but to her office. While this gave them a great deal more authority, outside watchdogs say more can be done. "There is a long way to go to get an agency that feels independent and emboldened to work for taxpayers, " says Joe Seep, a vice president of the Washington-based tax-advocacy group. The taxpayers union also has complained that Congress and the Bush administration don"t seem to be taking the advocates seriously enough. Each year, the IRS group reports to Congress on the top problems that advocates see. Many of these are systemic problems that can gum up the works for both taxpayer and collector, such as a December notice from Ms. Olson that the IRS should have just one definition of a dependent child, rather than the three definitions currently used. While taxpayer advocates can help smooth things out in many cases, they cannot ignore laws. If taxpayers haven"t made legitimate claims for credits, there"s nothing the advocate can do to reverse that course. And Olson says that while taxpayers are free to use her service, they should keep in mind that it does not replace the normal appeals process and should be the last place a citizen calls upon for help, not the first. "We"re really there for when the processes fall down, "she says. Every state has at least one taxpayer-advocate service office.

The Treasury could pocket 20 million a year in extra fines once the country" s speed camera network is expanded. Motoring organizations warned that the 【C1】______could become a poll tax on wheels, 【C2】______huge number of drivers. There could be many more incidents of vandalism 【C3】______cameras. The warnings came 【C4】______ a Daily Mail survey found almost all the 23 police forces in England and Wales were either 【C5】______ to expansion plans or considering 6 . Nationwide, the number of speeding tickets is expected to treble, 【C6】______90 million a year. 【C7】______the scheme, police keep some of the cash from fines to【C8】______ the costs of fitting and maintaining extra cameras and【C9】______that existing ones always have film in them. The rest will go to the Treasury. Both Ministers and police insist the scheme is aimed 【C10】______ at making roads safer. They point to trials in eight areas which cut collisions by a quarter and deaths and serious injuries by【C11】______a half. But motoring organizations fear cameras will be sited on relatively safe 【C12】______fast stretches to catch as many drivers as possible. Some forces are also expected to 【C13】______the "threshold" speeds at which cameras are 【C14】______ to the absolute legal minimum-【C15】______ mph in a 10 mph limit, and 26 mph in a 20 mph zone. This could encourage drivers to stare at their speedometers instead of concentrating on the road, and【C16】______to more accidents. Sue Nicholson, head of campaigns at the RAC, said, "We don" t have a problem with speed cameras【C17】______ . But we do have concerns about 【C18】______ they are sited. Police risk losing credibility 【C19】______ motorists if cameras are seen as revenue-raising【C20】______safety devices."

Chinese American

BPart ADirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D./B

The more I see of the Internet, the more enthusiastic I am. We"re living through a period of dynamic change. America is ahead just now, with over 50 percent of the population online; Britain is next, then Scandinavia and Japan, with the rest of Europe lagging surprisingly behind. But it won"t be long before everyone catches up. In the third world especially, the Internet will be a liberating force that will power democracy and economic growth. (46) The lightning speed of American decision-making in today"s business world is embedded in the technology. In the 1980s, American companies, desperate to fend off Japan and Germany, shed their bureaucratic aspects and returned to the knife-edge of the market. Companies began to be ran much more aggressively in the interests of shareholders, and that powered the adoption of new technology. The pay of CEOs was tied to stock market performance and businessmen got rich in a way they never previously imagined. The power of greed has always been one of our American lessons for the world. (47) On the knife-edge of the market some are going to bleed. One big innovation here is "frictionless selling" for cars-buying online rather than through a big talking salesman at a car dealership. I just bought my new car through Autobytel, which normally sells at 2 percent above what the dealer pays. Arranged finance and got just what I wanted—colour; interior, engine size—in half an hour. That"s great for me. (48) But there are 25,000—mostly family owned car dealerships in the United States, and in the next century most will die. It"s a transition that will surely be replicated many times over. If there are losers who need protecting, there are also winners on a grand scale, many of them from ethnic minorities. New technology attracts smart people who want to get rich from all over the world. (49) Lots of cubicles at Microsoft headquarters hold an Asian or Latino millionaire. And Yahoo was founded by Jerry Yang, who started by putting together a guide to cool websites as a bored graduate student at Stanford. He was under 30, was born in Taiwan, came to America with nothing, and his company is now worth tens of billions of dollars. (50) Telecom costs are falling towards zero, and computer costs aren"t far behind; by next year we"ll be able to store a terabyte of data for $10,000—and not long ago the entire Internet was held to be a terabyte. The growth of the Internet in Africa, Asia and the Far. East is putting these tools in everyone"s hands. And I"m confident that if people get the chance to connect, they will quickly create wealth and opportunities across seven continents.

BPart ADirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D./B

"The good news is that no existential catastrophe has happened," declared Nick Bostrom. "Not one. Yet. " Bostrom, director of Oxford"s Future of Humanity Institute, opened what he thinks might be the first ever conference to comprehensively consider the gamut of Global Catastrophic Risks. By existential catastrophes Bostrom means that humanity has survived extinction so far. However, he quickly pointed out 99. 9 percent of all species are extinct. Bostrom cited the Toba super-eruption 73,000 years ago which may have produced a global winter that reduced the population of human ancestors to fewer than 500 fertile women(though some disagree). Our Neanderthal relatives died out between 33,000 and 24,000 years ago. In Our Final Hour, Lord Martin Rees predicted that there was only a 50 percent chance that our civilization would survive to 2100. Bostrom justified the broad topic of global catastrophic risks by pointing to common causal links, e. g. , super-volcanoes, asteroid strikes, and nuclear wars all have the potential to produce disastrous global cooling. Catastrophic scenarios also present common methodological, analytical, and cultural challenges. And, argues Bostrom, a wider view of potential catastrophes is necessary for the adoption of proper policies and informed prioritization. To assist in this effort, the conference is launching the eponymous volume, Global Catastrophic Risks. Bostrom did note that people today are safer from small to medium threats than ever before. As evidence he cites increased life expectancy from 18 years in the Bronze Age to 64 years today(the World Health Organizations thinks it"s 66 years). And he urged the audience not to let future existential risks occlude our view of current disasters, such as 15 million people dying of infectious diseases every year, 3 million from HIV/AIDS, 18 million from cardiovascular diseases, and 8 million per year from cancer. Bostrom did note that, "All of the biggest risks, the existential risks are seen to be anthropogenic, that is, they originate from human beings". The biggest risks include nuclear war, biotech plagues, and nanotechnology arms races. The good news is that the biggest existential risks are probably decades away, which means we have time to analyze them and develop countermeasures. Tomorrow, the Oxford conference on Global Catastrophic Risks will have more edifying presentations on proposals for recovering from social collapses occasioned by catastrophes: how to rationally consider the end of the world; how to avoid Millennialist cognitive biases; how to insure against catastrophes; how ecological diversity could affect human prospects; and the tragedy of the uncommons.

Write a letter to a travel agency, asking about the detailed information about a package tour. You should include the details you think necessary. You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write the address. (10 points)

You are going to host a club reading session. Write an email of about 100 words recommending a book to the club members. You should state reasons for your recommendation. You should write neatly on the ANSWER SHEET. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write the address. (10 points)

Americans today believe that acceptable social behavior follows effortlessly from personal virtue. The (1)_____ between morals and manners has become blurred. (2)_____ you need is a good heart, most people assume, and the (3)_____ will take care of itself. You don"t have to write thank-you notes. Many Americans believe that natural behavior is beautiful. The "natural" (4)_____ to human relations presumes that to know any person well enough is to love him, that the (5)_____ human problem is a communication problem. This (6)_____ that people might be separated by basically, generally irreconcilable differences—philosophical, political, or religious—and assumes that all such differences are (7)_____ misunderstandings. Indeed, it has never been easier to insult people inadvertently. A gentleman opens a door for a lady because his mother taught him that ladies (8)_____ such courtesies, but she (9)_____ and spits in his eye because he has insulted her womanhood. A young lady offers her seat in a (10)_____ bus to an elderly, frail gentleman, and he gives her a (11)_____ look because she has insulted his (12)_____ Mind you, those are just people (13)_____ to be nice; the only problem is that they are (14)_____ on different systems of (15)_____. Curiously, it has never been (16)_____ to insult people intentionally. If you say, "You are nasty and I hate you," the person is (17)_____ to reply, "Oh, you"re feeling (18)_____; I"ll wait until you feel better. " The idea the people can behave "naturally" without resorting to a(n) (19)_____ code tacitly agreed upon by their society is as silly as the idea that they can communicate by using a language without (20)_____ accepted semantic and grammatical rules.

He has no more than five dollars on him.

Genetically-modified foodstuffs are here to stay. That´ s not to say that food from conventional agriculture will ___61___, but simply that food-buying patterns will polarize : there will be a niche market(瞄准机会的市场) for conventional foodstuffs just ___62___ there is for organic food. GM food will even become the food of ___63___ because consumers appreciate the health benefits of ___64___ pesticide use. Currently there are some 20, 000 chemicals ___65___ use, but scientists only have detailed information on around 1, 000. To see the advantages of GM food you have only to consider the recent press revelation ___66___ the average lettuce(莴苣) receives eleven pesticide applications before reaching the supermarket shelf. Surely chemicals and their ___67___ in disease will become a big issue in the future as the population of the developed world worries ___68___ about its health. GM food will not ___69___ for we need a threefold increase in food ___70___ to keep pace with the world ´ s___71___ population growth to ten or eleven billion. It ´ s not just a question of more mouths to feed ___72___ .What is often forgotten is that these ___73___ people will take up space, reducing the overall land ___74___ for agriculture. Until now, food ___75___ have been increased by improved varieties and artificial fertilizers: the green ___76___. Now we´re on the edge of a new revolution: a genetic one. Perhaps the developing world will benefit ___77___ from GM food. For the next ten years GM crops may be too ___78___ . But the lesson of personal computers is applicable here— ___79___the technology has been developed for money-spinning crops, like maize and soybeans, it will filter down and become ___80___for all.