Clenching your fist could be enough to help you get a grip on your memory.【F1】 Research suggests that balling up the right hand and squeezing it tightly actually makes it easier to memorise lists. Later, when it is time to retrieve the information, it is the left hand that should be clenched. It is thought the movements activate brain regions key to the storing and recall of memories. 【F2】 The American researchers suggest those who are short of a pen and paper should try the trick when attempting to commit a shopping list or phone number to memory. In the study, volunteers were given a rubber ball and asked to squeeze it as hard as possible before trying to memorise a list of 72 words.【F3】 They squeezed the ball again a couple of minutes later, ahead of recollecting as many of the words as possible. One group used their right hand on both occasions, another their left. A third group clenched their right fist ahead of memorising and their left ahead of recall and a fourth did the reverse. A fifth group held the ball but did not squeeze it. Those who squeezed with their right hand, followed by their left, remembered the most words.【F4】 The next best were the volunteers who made a fist with their right hand both times, while those who didn' t squeeze at all did better than those who led with their left. 【F5】 It is thought that the movement of clenching the right fist activates a brain region that is involved in storing memories, while squeezing the left hand triggers an area that is key to retrieving information. Lead researcher Dr Ruth Propper said, "The findings suggest that simple body movements—by temporarily changing the way the brain functions—can improve memory."

The long and progressive reign of Queen Victoria came to a climax at a time of peace and plenty when the British Empire seemed to be at the summit of its power and security. Of the discord that soon followed we shall here note only two factors which had large influence on contemporary English literature. The first disturbing factor was imperialism, the reawakening of a dominating spirit which had seemingly been put to sleep by the proclamation of an Imperial Federation. (46) Its coming was heralded by the Boer War in South Africa, through which Britain blundered to what was hoped to be an era of peace and good will. Other nations promptly made such hope a vain whistling in the wind. Japanese War Lords began a career of conquest which aimed to make Japan master of Asia and East Indies. Pacific islands that had for ages slept peacefully were turned into frowning naval stations. (47) Even the United States, aroused by an easy triumph in the Spanish War, started on an imperialistic adventure by taking "control of the Philippines, thus making an implacable enemy of Japan. Only a nation that enters on a dangerous course with eyes wide open has any chance of a safe way out, and the imperialistic nations were all alike blind. (48) An inevitable result was the First War and the great horror of a Second World War, the two disasters being different acts of the same tragedy of imperialism, separated only by a breathing spell. Another factor that influenced literature for the worse was a widespread demand for social reform of every kind; not slow and orderly reform, which is progress, but immediate and uncontrolled reform, which breeds a spirit of rebellion and despair. Before the Victorian age had come to an end, English literature appeared to have lost touch with healthy English life. Many writers echoed the sorrowful cry of James Thomson in his City of Dreadful Night, or babbled of "art for art"s sake" with Oscar Wilde. (49) Groom, in his survey of the period, notes that writers had mostly a critical attitude toward morals and religion, Church and State, as relics from "the dead hand of traditional beliefs". (50) Small wonder that German and Japanese war-advocates regarded Englishmen as a decadent race when the same or a worse opinion was daily read in the novels of Samuel Butler and nightly heard in the plays of Bernard Shaw.

It is often claimed that knowledge is something that we cannot do without, especially in our competitive society.

Studythefollowingcartooncarefullyandwriteanessayinwhichyoushould1)describethecartoon,2)deduethepurposeofthecartoon,and3)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwrite160-200wordsneatly.

In these times when market forces appear increasingly complicated and more volatile, it is all the more important to understand the professional jargon and terminology in the market place in order to be able to better make our investment and business decisions. Understanding key economic indicators will assist in the decision making process, providing a snapshot of the current situation and an insight into the future. (46) Each economic indicator tells us something about the economy or inflation. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is probably the most important report as it is the whole framework where other economic indicators fall under. There are also indicators that are broader tell us about the economy itself rather than the components, e.g. employment figures, leading indicators, money supply figures (M3). Inflation figures, Produce Price Index (PPI) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) will, in short, inform us of the changes in wholesale prices, cost of consumer (retail) goods and services respectively. An indicator that is useful must be accurate, timely and reliable. It depends entirely on the integrity of the national statistical system responsible. It is vital to know the accurate components of an indicator. We have to be mindful of the limitation of these statistical figures too. Some indicators can be historic or extremely volatile, and therefore their values are reduced. It is better to compare the most recent data with earlier months, or take a moving average for the past 3, 6 or 12 months to smooth the data. It will tell us if there has been a significant change in trend and whether a new direction is under way. Timeliness of an indicator is also significant. (47) Although the reported figures are important, it is crucial to recognize that markets react more to the variance to the consensus forecast than to the absolute change in the indicator. (48) Markets do not like surprises and can be frustrated with volatility upon subsequent revisions to the numbers published, even though significance of the absolute number diminishes with each passing month. The Index of Leading Economic Indicators (L.E.I) in the US acts as an early warning system, telling us when the economy is about to change direction. (49) This composite index of 11 leading indicators has a good record of providing accurate forecasts. The total index performs better as a prediction tool than any of its parts. This monthly figure is available on the last business day of the month and has low volatility. (50) As a general rule, turning points in the economy are signaled by three consecutive months of L.E.I changes in the same direction. This leading indicator is like a lighthouse, giving the rest of the world economies a glimpse of the direction of the world"s largest economy.

She likes being looked at.

In the following text, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 41-45, choose the most suitable one from the list (A、B、C、D、E、F、G……) to fit into each of the numbered blank. There are several extra choices, which do not fit in any of the gaps. (10 points) The Revolutionary War, which began officially on April 19, 1775, dragged on for more than six bitter years. It was conflict fought by the colonials for the righteous cause of securing freedom from intolerable British intervention in America affairs. (41)______. When legal restrictions were implemented by both the British and the colonists in 1775, nearly all American overseas commerce abruptly ceased. By mid-1775, the colonies faced acute shortages in such military essentials as powder, flints, muskets, and knives. Even salt, shoes, woolens and linens were in short supply. Late in 1775, Congress authorized limited trade with the West Indies, mainly to procure arms and ammunitions, and trade with other non-British areas was on an unrestricted basis by the spring of 1776. (42)______. Yet the colonies engaged in international trade despite the blockade. Formal treaties of commerce with France in 1778 and with Holland and Spain shortly thereafter stimulated the flows of overseas trade. Between 1778 and early 1782, American war time commerce was at its zenith. During those years, France, Holland, Spain, and their possessions all actively traded with the colonies. Even so, the flow of goods in and out of the colonies remained well below prewar levels. Smuggling, privateering, and legal trade with overseas partners only partially offset the drastic trade reductions with Britain. Even the coastal trades were curtailed by a lack of vessels, by blockades, and by wartime freight rates. British-occupied ports, such as New York, generated some import activity but little or nothing in the way of exports. (43)______. In Philadelphia, for instance, nearly 4,000 women were employed to spin materials in their homes for the newly established textile plants. A sharp increase also occurred in the number of artisan workshops with a similar stimulus in the production of beer, whiskey, and other domestic alcoholic beverages. (44)______. Only the least commercialized rural areas remained little affected by the serpentine path of war and the sporadic flows of wartime commerce. Overall, the war imposed a distinct economic hardship on the new nation. Most goods rose in cost and were more difficult to obtain. High prices and severe commercial difficulties encouraged some investors to turn from commerce to manufacturing. Then, once the trade lanes reopened with the coming of peace, even those who profited from the war were stung by the tide of imports that swept it to American ports and sharply lowered prices. (45)______.A. The rechanneling of American resources into import competing industries was especially strong along the coast and in the major port cities.B. As exports and imports fell, import substitution abounded, and the colonial economy became considerably more self-sufficient.C. Although many Americans escaped the direct ordeals of war, few Americans were untouched by it—at least indirectly.D. Nevertheless, the British maintained a fairly effective naval blockade of American ports, especially during the first two years of the war.E. Internally, the. most pressing problems were financial.F. More important was the fact that Congress had no independent income and had to rely for funds on catch as catch can contributions from the states, made roughly in proportion to their individual populations.G. Maritime commerce was always an important factor in the war effort, and trade linkages were vital to the supply of arms and ammunitions.

You have just received a letter from a company, which replied your application for a job and asked you to go to the interview on August 30. Please write a reply which is about 100 words. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. You do not need to write the address.

What would happen if consumers decided to simplify their lives and spend less on material goods and services? This (1)_____ is taking on a certain urgency as rates of economic growth continue to decelerate throughout the industrialized world, and (2)_____ millions of consumers appear to be (3)_____ for more frugal lifestyle. The Stanford Research Institute, which has done some of the most extensive work on the frugality phenomenon, (4)_____ that nearly five million American adults number "(5)_____ to and act on some but not all" of its basic tenets. The frugality phenomenon first achieved prominence as a middle-class (6)_____ of high-consumption lifestyle in the industrial world during the 50"s and 60"s. In the Silent Revolution, Ronald Ingehart of the University of Michigan"s Institute of Social Research examined this (7)_____ in the United States and 10 Western European nations. He concluded that a change has taken place "from an (8)_____ emphasis on material well-being and physical security (9)_____ greater emphasis on the quality of life", that is, "a (10)_____ from materialism to post-materialism". Ingehart calls the 60s the "fat year". Among their more visible trappings were the ragged blue jeans favored by the affluent young. Most of them (11)_____ from materialism; however, this was (12)_____. Comfortably fixed Americans were going (13)_____, (14)_____ making things last longer, sharing things with others, learning to do things for themselves and so on. But (15)_____ economically significant, it was hardly (16)_____ in a US Gross National Product climbing vigorously toward the $2 thousand billion mark. (17)_____, as the frugality phenomenon matured—growing out of the soaring 80s and into the somber 90s—it seemed to undergo a (18)_____ transformation. American consumers continued to lose (19)_____ in materialism and were being joined by new converts who were (20)_____ frugality because of the darkening economic skies they saw ahead.

By the 1980s, according to international but admittedly inconsistent definitions of literacy, about seven out of ten adults in the world were considered literate. The increase in literacy from ancient times to the present has not been a story of unbroken progress. The ability of people with in a given society to read and write has been influenced by a number of factors, including economic well-being, the availability of material to read, the amount of education available, and the basic matter of the usefulness of reading. Of these factors, usefulness has probably been the most decisive. In ancient societies, as people settled into stable patterns of agriculture and trade, it became useful for some of them to read and write in order to keep records, to transact business, and to measure amounts of land, animals, goods, materials, and produce. Since all economic aspects of a society were closely tied to the operations of government, literacy became useful and even necessary for the keeping of records by officials. The responsibilities of citizenship led to a fairly high level of literacy in ancient Greece and Rome, but in addition to that, there also grew an appreciation of good literature, poetry, drama, history, and philosophy. During the early Middle Ages, with the general breakdown of society in Europe and the decrease of commerce, literacy became largely confined to the church. But in the late Middle Ages, in the period of the Renaissance, the great expansion of commerce and banking led to a revival in literacy for the same reason that had caused it to increase in the ancient world usefulness. With the invention of the printing press and inexpensive paper late in the 15th century there was for the first time a great availability of reading material for a much greater number of people. Religious reformers were among the first to utilize the situation, quickly getting translations of the Bible and educational tracts and booklets into the hands of many people. The broadened religious enlightenment that resulted was followed in later centuries by a political one. Political theorists who favored doctrines promoting the natural rights of man called for an attack upon illiteracy. Political revolutions, particularly in the United States and France, helped inaugurate an era in which all classes were called upon to become informed on public policy for their own welfare. Against this political background there emerged the movement for universal popular education. Literacy came to be understood as a means whereby the individual could benefit and advance, and gradually whole societies began to acknowledge that universal literacy among their citizens was an avenue to greater economic well-being.

It Pays to Be Honest

Yesterday you failed to turn up for the appointment with your teacher, Professor Wang. Write him a note of apology and make a request for another meeting. You should also suggest the time for the requested meeting. Write your letter with no less than 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.

Air is to us as water is to fish.

Never has a straitjacket seemed so ill-fitting or so insecure. The Euro area"s "Stability and Growth Pact" was supposed to stop irresponsible member states running excessive budget deficits, defined as 3% of GDP or more. Chief among the restraints was the threat of large fines if member governments breached the limit for three years in a row. For some time now, no one has seriously believed those restraints would hold. In the early hours of Tuesday November 25th, the Euro"s fiscal straitjacket finally came apart at the seams. The pact"s fate was sealed over an extended dinner meeting of the euro area"s 12 finance ministers. They chewed over the sorry fiscal record of the Euro"s two largest members, France and Germany. Both governments ran deficits of more than 3% of GDP last year and will do so again this year. Both expect to breach the limit for the third time in 2004. Earlier this year the European Commission, which polices the pact, agreed to give both countries an extra year, until 2005, to bring their deficits back into line. But it also instructed them to revisit their budget plans for 2004 and make extra cuts. France was asked to cut its underlying, cyclically adjusted deficit by a full 1% of GDP, Germany by 0.8%. Both resisted. Under the pact"s hales, the commission"s prescriptions have no force until formally endorsed in a vote by the Euro area"s finance ministers" known as the "Eurogroup". And the votes were simply not there. Instead, the Euro-group agreed on a set of proposals of its own, drawn up by the Italian finance minister, Giulio Tremonti. France will cut its structural deficit by 0.8% of GDP next year, Germany by 0.6%. In 2005, both will bring their deficits below 3%, economic growth permitting. Nothing will enforce or guarantee this agreement except France and Germany"s word. The European Central Bank (ECB) was alarmed at this outcome, the commission was dismayed, and the smaller Euro-area countries who opposed the deal were apoplectic: treaty law was giving way to the "Franco-German steamroller", as Le Figaro, a French newspaper, put it. This seething anger will sour European politics and may spill over into negotiations on a proposed EU constitution. Having thrown their weight around this week, France and Germany may find other smaller members more reluctant than ever to give ground in the negotiations on the document. Spain opposes the draft constitution because it will give it substantially less voting weight than it currently enjoys. It sided against France and Germany on Tuesday, and will point to their fiscal transgressions to show that the EU"s big countries do not deserve the extra power the proposed constitution will give them.

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

The numbers in the jobs report for February were bad, but the trends were worse. More than half Of the 4.4 million jobs lost since December 2007, when the recession began, vanished in the last four months. 4" The unemployment rate has also surged to 8. 1 percent last month from 7. 6 percent in January—and from 5. 0 percent when the recession began. The ranks of the unemployed now total 12. 5 million people. It"s fortunate, then, that the nation"s first line of defense against rising joblessness— unemployment insurance- was reinforced in the stimulus law that passed last month. The law increases unemployment benefits by $ 25 a week and allows states to extend those benefits through the end of the year. It also provides $7 billion to the states to cover more than 500,000 workers often part-time, low-wage and female—who are denied jobless benefits under outdated rules that apply in many states. Those states, of course, must reform their systems to specifically include those workers and to bring their programs more in line with federal guidelines. Congress and the Obama administration must also be prepared to do more as unemployment worsens as it inevitably will in this contracting economy. In 11th-hour wrangling last month, a provision was struck from the stimulus bill that would have provided Medicaid coverage to unemployed workers who do not qualify or cannot afford to stay on their former employers" group health insurance. The measure should be reintroduced and passed into law. Indeed, all job-related policies should acknowledge that employment is unlikely to turn around anytime soon. That"s because the economy"s other headwinds—the housing bust and the stock-market wipeout—will delay any labor market recovery. With both sales and prices for homes declining in most places, many people who might otherwise move to take a new job are compelled to stay put, especially if a sale would not bring in enough money to pay off the mortgage. With stocks tanking, many workers are likely to postpone retirement, impairing upward mobility for other workers and crowding out new entrants to the work force. That means that in addition to providing relief for today"s unemployed, greater emphasis must be placed on job training and retraining and on better education at all levels. If a job slump is short and shallow, old jobs come back. If it is long and deep, like the current one, some old jobs never return and even some industries never revive. That makes it imperative to prepare as a nation for the prospect of a vastly different future.

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

Every ten minutes, black Volkswagen shuttle vans ferry delegates from their hotels in Davos, Switzerland, to this year's World Economic Forum, held from January 17th to 20th. If you could squeeze the world's eight richest men into one of these vans, they might feel cramped. 【F1】 But they could comfort themselves with an extraordinary statistic; according to Oxfam, a charity, they own as much wealth ($426bn) as half the world's population combined ($409bn). 【F2】 To make this striking calculation, the charity draws on data from Forbes magazine, which lists the wealth of the billionaires, and Credit Suisse, which estimates the smaller holdings of everyone else, thanks to painstaking work by three scholars of wealth, Anthony Shorrocks, Jim Davies and Rodrigo Lluberas. Pedants can nonetheless criticise Oxfam's headline-grabbing comparison for its handling of debt, the dollar, labour and data. The world's least wealthy include over 420m adults whose debts exceed their assets, leaving them with negative net worth. Most of this net debt is owed by people in high-income countries. There are, for example, over 21m Americans with a combined wealth of minus $357bn. Only people with relatively good prospects, by global standards, can be so poor; the wretched of the earth could never borrow so much. 【F3】 If all of the people with sub-zero wealth are excluded from the comparison, the poorest half of the remaining population would have a combined wealth equivalent to the richest 98 billionaires. The Credit Suisse team converts the world's wealth into dollars at market rates. But the dollar stretches further in poor countries. So studies of global poverty typically make currency conversions at "purchasing-power parity" (PPP) instead. 【F4】 Wealth data also exclude the poor's biggest asset; their labour or "human capital". The returns on that asset—such as wages—do however appear in income statistics. So whereas the bottom half of the global population have a negligible share of global wealth (only 0. 15% at market exchange rates, according to Credit Suisse), they have a bigger share of global income (10.6% at PPP in 2013, the latest number available, according to Christoph Lakner of the World Bank). In valuing the poor's wealth at $409bn, Oxfam also seems to have committed a rounding error. The figure should be just $384bn, according to Mr Shorrocks (although the data are too patchy to allow much precision). For what it's worth, $384bn is less than the wealth of the world's seven richest men. There would be no need to squeeze Michael Bloomberg, the world's eighth-richest person, into the minivan. 【F5】 That would leave room for the magnificent seven to stretch their legs.

You are the manager of an accounting company and now you need to recommend Mr. Wang Li who originally was an accountant in your company to another accounting office. Write a letter to the director of the office which should include: 1) the relationship between Mr. Wang Li and you, 2) a brief introduction of his capabilities and personalities, 3) the proposal to employ him. You should write 100 words. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead. You do not need to write your address.

Those days are long gone when placing a telephone call meant simply picking up the receiver and asking the operator to patch you through. Modern cell phones require users to navigate a series of menus to find numbers, place calls or check messages. Even the most tech-savvy may take weeks to discover some of the more mysterious multimedia functions. Imagine the difficulty forsomeone unable to read. That is the challenge for mobile communications companies aiming to branch out into developing countries. The prospects seen from the last decade are alluring: only about one tenth of India"s population use cell phones. But selling to poor rural areas is not likely to happen with a marketing version of "plug and play." Most potential buyers have little exposure to anything other than simple electronics. Reading through a series of hierarchical menus and pushing buttons for multiple purposes would be new concepts for such customers. To come up with a suitable device, Motorola relied on a team of anthropologists, psychologists and designers to study how textually illiterate villagers use their aging televisions, tape players and phones. The researchers noticed that their subjects would learn each button"s dedicated function. With something more complicated, such as an automated teller machine, users would memorize a set of behaviors in order, which allowed them to move through the machine"s basic hierarchy without having to read the menu. The research, which lasted three years, led Motorola to craft a cellular phone slimmed down to three essential activities: calling, managing numbers and simple text messaging. "A lot of the functions in a cell phone are not useful to anyone," points out Gabriel White, who headed the interactive design team. The icon-based interface also required thought. Not all cell phone companies believe that a design for nonliterate users should start from scratch. Nokia"s behavioral researchers noticed that "newbies" rely on friends and relatives to help them with basic functions. Rather than confronting the challenge of a completely new interface, Nokia chose to provide some audio menus in its popular 1100 model and a preview mode so that people could try out functions without the risk of changing anything important. Mobile phones may even become tools for literacy, predicts BJ Fogg, who studies computer-human interaction at Stanford University. Phones might teach the alphabet or tell a story as users read along. "Imagine if it eventually could understand your weak points and drill you on those," Fogg proposes. And soon enough, he declares, designs or illiterate users will lead to more straightforward, elegant phones for everyone.