Your friend Wang Yu, who you have not seen for quite some time, has obtained a promotion recently. Write him a letter. Because he was very kind to you in the past, you should recall some of his previous kindness and express your joy at his success. 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)

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

In a family where the roles of men and women are not sharply separated and where many household tasks are shared to a greater or lesser extent, notions of male superiority are hard to maintain. The pattern of sharing in tasks and in decisions makes for equality, and this in turn leads to further sharing. In such a home, the growing boy and girl learn to accept that equality more easily than did their parents and to prepare more fully for participation in a world characterized by cooperation rather than by the "battle of the sexes". If the process goes too far and man"s role is regarded as less important—and that has happened in some cases—we are as badly of as before, only in reverse. It is time to reassess the role of the man in the American family. We are getting a little tired of "momism"(母系崇拜), but we don"t want to exchange it for a "neo-popism(新父系崇拜)。" What we need, rather, is the recognition that bringing up children involves a partnership of equals. There are signs that psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, mad specialists on the family are becoming more aware of the part men play and that they have decided that women should not receive all the credit or all the blame. We have almost given up saying that a woman"s place is the home. We are beginning, however, to analyze men"s place in the home and to insist that he does have a place in it. Nor is that place irrelevant to the healthy, development of the child. The family is a cooperative enterprise for which it is difficult to lay down rules, because each family needs to work out its own ways for solving its own problems. Excessive authoritarianism has unhappy consequences, whether it wears skirts or trousers, and the ideal of equal rights and equal responsibilities is connected not only with a healthy democracy, but also with a healthy family.

人类性格与行为形成的原因及影响 ——1990年英译汉及详解 People have wondered for a long time how their personalities and behaviors are formed. It is not easy to explain why one person is intelligent and another is not, or why one is cooperative and another is competitive. Social scientists are, of course, extremely interested in these types of questions.【F1】 They want to explain why we possess certain characteristics and exhibit certain behaviors. There are no clear answers yet, but two distinct schools of thought on the matter have developed. As one might expect, the two approaches are very different from each other. The controversy is often conveniently referred to as "nature vs. nurture". 【F2】 Those who support the "nature" side of the conflict believe that our personalities and behavior patterns are largely determined by biological factors. 【F3】 That our environment has little, if anything, to do with our abilities, characteristics and behavior is central to this theory. Taken to an extreme, this theory maintains that our behavior is pre-determined to such a great degree that we are almost completely governed by our instincts. Those who support the "nurture" theory, that is, they advocate education, are often called behaviorists. They claim that our environment is more important than our biologically based instincts in determining how we will act. A behaviorist, B. F. Skinner, sees humans as beings whose behavior is almost completely shaped by their surroundings.【F4】 The behaviorists maintain that, like machines, humans respond to environmental stimuli as the basis of their behavior. Let us examine the different explanations about one human characteristic, intelligence, offered by the two theories.【F5】 Supporters of the "nature" theory insist that we are born with a certain capacity for learning that is biologically determined. Needless to say: They don't believe that factors in the environment have much influence on what is basically a predetermined characteristic. On the other hand, behaviorists argue that our intelligence levels are the product of our experiences.【F6】 Behaviorists suggest that the child who is raised in an environment where there are many stimuli which develop his or her capacity for appropriate responses will experience greater intellectual development. The social and political implications of these two theories are profound.【F7】 In the United States, blacks often score below whites on standardized intelligence tests. This leads some "nature" proponents to conclude that blacks are biologically inferior to whites.【F8】 Behaviorists, in contrast, say that differences in scores are due to the fact that blacks are often deprived of many of the educational and other environmental advantages that whites enjoy. Most people think neither of these theories can yet fully explain human behavior.

In a lab in Oxford University's experimental psychology department, researcher Roi Cohen Ka-dosh is testing a relatively new brain-stimulation technique which may help people learn and improve their understanding of math concepts. The electrodes(a small piece of metal or other substance that is used to take an electric current)are【C1】______in a tightly fitted cap and worn around the head. The device, run off a 9-volt battery commonly used in smoke detectors, induces only a【C2】______current and can be targeted to【C3】______areas of the brain or applied generally. The mild current reduces the【C4】______of side effects, which has【C5】______possibilities about using it, even in individuals【C6】______a disorder, as a general cognitive【C7】______. Scientists also are investigating its use to treat mood disorders and【C8】______conditions. Dr. Cohen Kadosh's【C9】______work on learning enhancement and brain stimulation is one example of the long journey faced by scientists【C10】______brain-stimulation and cognitive-stimulation techniques.【C11】______other researchers in the community, he has dealt with public【C12】______about safety and side effects, plus【C13】______from other scientists about whether these findings would hold in the wider population. There are also ethical questions about the technique.【C14】______it truly works to enhance cognitive performance, should it be【C15】______to anyone who can afford to buy the device—which already is【C16】______for sale in the U.S.? Should parents be able to perform such stimulation on their kids without【C17】______? "It's early days but that hasn't stopped some companies from【C18】______the device and marketing it as a learning tool," Dr. Cohen Kadosh says. "Be very【C19】______." However, if the technique continues to show【C20】______, "this type of method may have a chance to be the new drug of the 21st century," says Dr. Cohen Kadosh.

You want to study at a certain foreign university. Write a letter to ask about the situation there as regards accommodation and fees, possible scholarships, and what qualifications one needs for acceptance. 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)

Senator Barack Obama likes to joke that the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination has been going on so long, babies have been born, and they" re already walking and talking. That"s nothing. The battle between the sciences and the humanities has been going on for so long, its early participants have stopped walking and talking, because they"re already dead. It"s been some 50 years since the physicist-turned-novelist C. P. Snow delivered his famous "Two Cultures" lecture at the University of Cambridge, in which he decried the "gulf of mutual incomprehension", the "hostility and dislike" that divided the world"s "natural scientists", its chemists, engineers, physicists and biologists, from its "literary intellectuals", a group that, by Snow"s reckoning, included pretty much everyone who wasn"t a scientist. His critique set off a frenzy of desperation that continues to this day, particularly"in the United States, as educators, policymakers and other observers lament the Balkanization of knowledge, the scientific illiteracy of the general public and the chronic academic turf wars that are all too easily lampooned. Yet a few scholars believe that the cultural chasm can be bridged and the sciences and the humanities united into a powerful new discipline that would apply the strengths of both mindsets, the quantitative and qualitative, to a wide array of problems. Among the most ambitious of these exercises in fusion thinking is a program under development at Binghamton University in New York called the New Humanities Initiative. Jointly conceived by David Sloan Wilson, a professor of biology, and Leslie Heywood, a professor of English, the program is intended to build on some of the themes explored in Dr. Wilson"s evolutionary studies program, which has proved enormously popular with science and nonscience majors alike, and which he describes in the recently published "Evolution for Everyone". In Dr. Wilson"s view, evolutionary biology is a discipline that, to be done right, demands a crossover approach, the capacity to think in narrative and abstract terms simultaneously, so why not use it as a template for emulsifying the two cultures generally? "There are more similarities than differences between the humanities and the sciences, and some of the stereotypes have to be altered," Dr. Wilson said, "Darwin, for example, established his entire evolutionary theory on the basis of his observations of natural history, and most of that information was qualitative, not quantitative. " As he and Dr. Heywood envision the program, courses under the New Humanities rubric would be offered campus-wide, in any number of departments, including history, literature, philosophy, sociology, law and business. The students would be introduced to basic scientific tools like statistics and experimental design and to liberal arts staples like the importance of analyzing specific texts or documents closely, identifying their animating ideas and comparing them with the texts of other immortal minds.

Business travelers used to be the cash cows of the hotel business. Armed with corporate credit cards and expense accounts, they"d happily lay down hundreds of dollars per night for the privilege of a Godiva chocolate on their pillow and a sunken whirlpool tub in their bathroom. But just as pro longed corporate belt tightening has forced road warriors to use budget airlines, more and more of them are now eschewing five-star lodging in favor of cheaper accommodations. Indeed, earlier this year the U.S.-based National Business Travel Association released figures showing that 61 percent of corporate travel managers planned to book their people into lower-priced hotels in the coming year. Here"s the good news: penny-pinching is translating into better deals at cheap and up-market hotels alike. Services at middle-market hotels are rising to accommodate a new wave of more demanding corporate customers. And luxury hotels are working harder to keep business travelers coming, offering lower rates, special packages and extra services. Even though business-travel volume is set to rise by more than 4 percent in 2004 after three dismal years, hotels will continue to be under pressure—in large part because a weak dollar is forcing American business travelers to search for value. Some of the best deals are coming from the big chains. In January Starwood Hotels announced it would upgrade its global middle-market brand, Four Points, by rolling out free high-speed wireless Internet access in all guest rooms. On the flip side, upscale brands like Inter Continental and Ritz Carlton are selling empty rooms at discount rates via online services. That has the effect of depressing luxury-room prices, because corporate travel managers can now demand that hotels match their own discount prices all the time. Inter Continental hotels in France and Germany have been hit so hard that they are actually repricing their rooms to reflect rates before the dollar began falling. Upscale hotels like Waldorf-Astoria, Sofitel are also trying to offer extra services. But beware of new, hidden fees. In an effort to make up some of their lost revenue, hotels are starting to charge corporate travelers for things that used to be free—including breakfast, banquet or meeting rooms. Aside from saving companies money, the trend in frugal business travel may give rise to a whole new market segment: the buy-to-let hotel room, Last week in London, British property developer Johnny Sandelson launched GuestInvest, a hotel in Notting Hill where users can purchase a room for ￡35,000, use it for a maximum of 52 nights a year themselves, then rent it out the rest of the time to make extra money. It seems an idea whose time has come: GuestInvest says it has already fielded hundreds of calls from business people interested in making a cheaper hotel their second home.

[A]Mobilityofthiskindmeantalsomobilityofideas,theirtransferenceacrossfrontiers,andtheirsimultaneousimpactuponmanygroupsofpeople.Thepointoflearningistoshareit,whetherwithstudentsorwithcolleagues;onepresumesthatonlyeccentricshavenointerestinbeingcreditedwithastartlingdiscovery,oranewtechnique.Itmustalsohavebeenreassuringtoknowthatotherpeopleinotherpartsoftheworldwereabouttomakethesamediscoveryorwerethinkingalongthesamelines,andthatonewasnotquitealone,confrontedbyinquisition,ridiculeorneglect.[B]Scholarsandstudentshavealwaysbeengreattravelers.Thecasefor"academicmobility"isnowoftenstatedinimpressivetermsasafundamentalnecessityforeconomicandsocialprogressintheworld,butitiscertainlynothingnew.Seriousstudentswerealwaysreadytogoabroadinsearchofthemoststimulatingteachersandthemostfamousacademies;insearchofthepurestphilosophy,themosteffectivemedicine,thelikeliestroadtogold.[C]Apartfromthevehicleitself,itisfairlyeasytoidentifythemainfactorswhichhavebroughtabouttherecentexplosioninacademicmovement.Someofthesearepurelyquantitativeandrequirenofurthermention:therearefarmorecentersoflearning,andafargreaternumberofscholarsandstudents.[D]Butasthespecializationshaveincreasedinnumberandnarrowedinrange,therehadbeenanoppositemovementtowardsinterdisciplinarystudies.Theseowemuchtothebeliefthatonecannotproperlyinvestigatetheincrediblycomplexproblemsthrownupbythemodernworld,andbyrecentadvancesinourknowledgealongthenarrowfrontofasinglediscipline.Thistrendhasledtoagreatdealofacademiccontactbetweendisciplines,andafargreateremphasisonthepoolingofspecialistknowledge,reflectedinthebroadsubjectschoseninmanyinternationalconferences.[E]Frequentlythesespecializationslieinareaswhereveryrapiddevelopmentsaretakingplace,andalsowheretheresearchneededfordevelopmentsisextremelycostlyandtakesalongtime.Itispreciselyintheseareasthattheadvantagesofcollaborationandsharingofexpertiseappearmostevident.Associatedwiththisisthegrowthofspecialistperiodicals,whichenablescholarstobecomeawareofwhatishappeningindifferentcentersofresearchandtomeeteachotherinconferencesandsymposia.Fromthesemeetingscomethepersonalrelationshipswhichareatthebottomofalmostallformalizedschemesofcooperation,andprovidethemwiththeirmostsatisfactorystimulus.[F]Inthetwentiethcentury,andparticularlyinthelast20years,theoldfootpathsofthewanderingscholarshavebecomevasthighways.Thevehiclewhichhasmadethispossiblehasofcoursebeentheaeroplane,makingcontactbetweenscholarseveninthemostdistantplacesimmediatelyfeasible,andprovidingfortheveryrapidtransmissionofknowledge.[G]Inaddition,onemustrecognizetheveryconsiderablemultiplicationofdisciplines,particularlyinthesciences,whichbywideningthetotalareaofadvancedstudieshasproducedanenormousnumberofspecialistswhoseparticularinterestsarepreciselydefined.Thesepeoplewouldworkinsomeisolationiftheywerenotabletokeepintouchwithsimilarisolatedgroupsinothercountries.Order:

A friend of mine had a grandfather who supervised the payroll at a large company long ago. People who knew him say this man was a paragon of virtue when it came to making sure the employees were treated fair and square on every payday. But he also believed that once wages were disbursed, workers should take full responsibility for their financial security. In his view, honest labor and thrifty habits were basic elements of the free-enterprise system. Nobody should expect any money unless they earned it. He opposed company pension plans, and was thoroughly dismayed by the fiscal structure and benefits of Social Security. I wonder how many people hold the same views now. The debate about changing Social Security is part of a larger question: What obligation, if any, do Americans feel toward fellow citizens who need help? Note, I didn"t say "less fortunate", "disadvantaged", or some other term that might be construed as evidence I"m promoting my own brand of social engineering. I just want to know how much concern people have for what happens outside their own households. Critics of government assistance programs often say they do more harm than good by creating a cycle of dependency for recipients and a gigantic bureaucracy that demoralizes the rest of society by taking money away from us and creating a welfare state of slackers. The term I prefer to describe our current situation is "safety-net culture". It has lots of problems, but I also know what life was like before safety nets, because my dad gave me abundant testimony from his 1920s boyhood near San Francisco—it was no Norman Rockwell painting. His father worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, so they did have a house. But one neighbor lived in a tent on a vacant lot and another was known for owning only one pair of overalls, which his wife laundered in a tub on the stove on Saturdays while he sat by, wrapped in a blanket. My dad"s family often ate boiled rice for breakfast. The beverage of choice was tea, but if that ran out they made "silver tea"—hot water with milk and sugar. Money for college wasn"t in the family budget. My dad got his degree thanks to the GI Bill. Decades of safety-net culture have removed a lot of anxiety from our lives but we"re still not dose to Utopia. Amid all the Social Security debate about aging baby boomers and shrinking worker contributions, I"m most compelled by this statistic: Close to 20 percent of retirees get all of their income from Social Security. Should that number be a source of national pride or embarrassment? Or perhaps a better question: How do you honestly feel about drinking silver tea during your golden years?

Quite apart from any awkwardness in the way he handled the hostile bid by rival Oracle for the firm he was running, Craig Conway seems to have been an unpopular CEO of PeopleSoft, a large enterprise-software company. Three managers who reported directly to him were apparently close to resigning in frustration, and the board was unhappy about "misstatements" he made to analysts. So even though there was no "smoking gun", as the board put it, Mr. Conway was fired on October 1st and replaced by the firm"s founder, David Duffield. Mr. Duffield"s brief is now to address Mr. Conway"s perceived shortcomings and his obsession with fending off the $7.7 billion takeover bid from Oracle. At the same time, says Paul Hamerman of Forrester, a research firm, Mr. Conway offered no compelling technological vision for PeopleSoft, and seemed deaf to "quite a noise level of customer complaints". Mr. Conway"s firing prompted much speculation that PeopleSoft might now be more prepared to negotiate with Oracle rather than fight it. But PeopleSoft insists that both Mr. Duffield and the board focus on a long-term strategy for the company, not a quick sale. On the same day that Mr. Conway was fired, however, Oracle scored another victory when America"s Justice Department said that it would not appeal against a judge"s decision to allow the takeover on antitrust grounds. So, this week, the battle moved to another courtroom, in Delaware, where both companies are registered. In this suit, Oracle is claiming that People. Soft is not properly looking after the interests of its shareholders by using a "poison pill" and a "customer assurance programme" to keep Oracle at bay. The poison pill is a very common provision, and one that PeopleSoft has had for almost a decade. It floods the market with new shares if a predator buys more than 20% of PeopleSoft"s equity, thus making an acquisition very difficult. The customer-rebate programme, by contrast, was put in place last June. It guarantees that any PeopleSoft client can get a refund for between two and five times its software-licence fee if support for that software is ever cut off. To Oracle, this represents another dirty tactic, since it amounts to a potential liability of more than $2 billion. To PeopleSoft, however, it was not only fair but necessary to retain customers, since Oracle said at the time of its bid that it planned to kill PeopleSoft"s products and switch clients to its own. The two companies" lawyers are likely to be at it for another few weeks, which could yet see a higher bid from Oracle.

Perhaps only a small boy training to be a wizard at the Hogwarts School of magic could cast a spell so powerful as to create the biggest book launch ever. Wherever in the world the clock strikes midnight on June 20th, his followers will flock to get their paws on one of more than 10 million copies of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix". Bookshops will open in the middle of the night and delivery firms are drafting in extra staff and bigger trucks. Related toys, games, DVDs and other merchandise will be everywhere. There will be no escaping Pottermania. Yet Mr. Potter"s world is a curious one, in which things are often not what they appear. While an excitable media (hereby including The Economist, happy to support such a fine example of globalisation) is helping to hype the launch of J.K. Rowling"s fifth novel, about the most adventurous thing that the publishers (Scholastic in America and Britain"s Bloomsbury in English elsewhere) have organised is a reading by Ms. Rowling in London"s Royal Albert Hall, to be broadcast as a live webcast. Hollywood, which owns everything else to do with Harry Potter, says it is doing even less. Incredible as it may seem, the guardians of the brand say that, to protect the Potter franchise, they are trying to maintain a low profile. Well, relatively low. Ms. Rowling signed a contract in 1998 with Warner Brothers, part of AOL Time Warner, giving the studio exclusive film, licensing and merchandising rights in return for what now appears to have been a steal: some $500,000. Warner licenses other firms to produce goods using Harry Potter characters or images, from which Ms. Rowling gets a big enough cut that she is now wealthier than the queen—if you believe Britain"s Sunday Times rich list. The process is self-generating: each book sets the stage for a film, which boosts book sales, which lifts sales of Potter products. Globally, the first four Harry Potter books have sold some 200 million copies in 55 languages; the two movies have grossed over $1.8 billion at the box office. This is a stunning success by any measure, especially as Ms. Rowling has long demanded that Harry Potter should not be over-commercialised. In line with her wishes, Warner says it is being extraordinarily careful, at least by Hollywood standards, about what it licenses and to whom. It imposed tough conditions on Coca-Cola, insisting that no Harry Potter images should appear on cans, and is now in the process of making its licensing programme even more restrictive. Coke may soon be considered too mass market to carry the brand at all. The deal with Warner ties much of the merchandising to the films alone. There are no officially sanctioned products relating to "Order of the Phoenix"; nor yet for "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", the film of the third book, which is due out in June 2004. Warner agrees that Ms. Rowling"s creation is a different sort of commercial property, one with long-term potential that could be damaged by a typical Hollywood marketing blitz, says Diane Nelson, the studio"s global brand manager for Harry Potter. It is vital, she adds, that with more to come, readers of the books are not alienated. "The evidence from our market research is that enthusiasm for the property by fans is not waning".

A woman with a twin brother has fewer children. Twin brothers can leave quite an impression. The mere presence of a boy in the same womb as his sister causes her to develop bigger teeth than she otherwise would. Girls with twin brothers perform better on spatial-ability tests. They have better ball skills than most females and are more likely to be short-sighted. Now it seems that sharingthe womb also has a harmful effect on the sexual reproduction of women with a twin brother. Virpi Lummaa of the University of Sheffield, in Britain, and her colleagues made the claim after studying detailed data from several generations of church records from many parishes in Finland. They report that women with a twin brother were 15% less likely to get married than were women with a twin sister. Those with a male twin also had a 25% lower chance of giving birth even though they lived just as long as those with a female twin. When the researchers considered only married women, those with a twin brother on average had two fewer children during their lifetimes than did women with a twin sister. And finally—to rule out any influence of sharing a house as well as a womb—Dr Lummaa checked the results were the same for women whose twin brothers died before they were three months old. The researchers reported their findings in this week"s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. As with the teeth, the supposed cause of untypical female biology is early exposure to testosterone. This hormone is made by a male fetus"s developing testes from about seven weeks after conception and is thought to diffuse, thus influencing his sister"s growth. But the exact mechanism by which a twin brother lowers his sister"s chances of reproductive success is unclear. Dr Lummaa"s results also suggest that, if a woman wishes to maximize the chances of passing on her genes, she would do better to avoid producing pairs of twins consisting of one boy and one girl and go for a single-sex combination instead. Mothers included in the study who produced opposite-sex twins had 19% fewer grandchildren than did mothers who gave birth to same-sex twins. Evolutionary theory thus predicts that there should be fewer pairs of girl-and-boy non-identical twins than single-sex pairs of non-identical twins. Whether that is so requires another set of figures. Finnish church records, helpful as they are, do not distinguish non-identical same-sex twins from identical ones. In the eyes of God, unlike those of natural selection, twin girls are created equal.

The estimates of the numbers of home-schooled children vary widely. The U.S. Department of Education estimates there are 250,000 to 350,000 home-schooled children in the country. Home-school advocates put the number much higher at about a million. Many public school advocates take a harsh attitude toward home schoolers perceiving their actions as the ultimate slap for public education and a damaging move for the children. (46) Home schoolers harbor few kind words for public schools, charging shortcomings that range from lack of religious perspective in the curriculum to a herd-like approach to teaching children. (47) Yet, as public school officials realize they stand little to gain by remaining hostile to the home-school population, and as home schoolers realize they can reap benefits from public schools, these hard lines seem to be softening a bit. Public schools and home schoolers have moved closer to tolerance and, in some cases, even cooperation. Says John Marshall, an education official, "We are becoming relatively tolerant of home schoolers." The idea is: "Let"s give the kids access to public school so they"ll see it"s not as terrible as they"ve been told, and they"ll want to come back." Perhaps, but don"t count on it, say home-school advocates. (48) Home schoolers oppose the system because they have strong convictions that their approach to education—whether fueled by religious enthusiasm or the individual child"s interests and natural pace, is best. "The bulk of home schoolers just want to be left alone," says Enge Cannon, associate director of the National Center for Home Education. She says home schoolers choose that path for a variety of reasons, but religion plays a role 85 percent of the time. Professor Van Galen breaks home schoolers into two groups. (49) Some home schoolers want their children to learn not only traditional subject matter but also strict religious doctrine and a conservative political and social perspective. Not incidentally, they also want their children to learn, both intellectually and emotionally, that the family is the most important institution in society. Other home schoolers contend "not so much that the schoolers teach heresy(异教), but that schoolers teach whatever they teach inappropriately," Van Galen writes. (50) "These parents are highly independent and strive to "take responsibility" for their own lives within a society that they define as bureaucratic and inefficient."

One of the least appreciated but most remarkable developments of the past 60 years is the extraordinary growth of American agriculture. Farming now accounts for about one tenth of the gross domestic product yet employs less than 1 percent of all workers. It has accomplished this feat through exceptionally high growth in productivity, which has kept prices of food low and thereby contributed to rising standards of living. Furthermore, the exportable surplus has kept the trade deficit from reaching unsupportable levels. Agriculture not only has one of the highest rates of productivity growth of all industries, but this growth appears to have accelerated during the past two decades. Over the period 1948 to 2004, total farm production went up by 166 percent. The land used for farming dropped by one quarter over the 56-year period, and investment in heavy farm equipment and other capital expenditures decreased by 12 percent. Several developments drove these changes, beginning with the replacement of the remaining horses by tractors immediately after World War II and with the expanding use of fertilizers and pesticides. Later came the adoption of hybrid seeds, genetic engineering of plants and improved livestock breeding. A key element was the U.S. Department of Agriculture"s(USDA)extension service. Operating through land-grant universities and other organizations, it educated farmers on biotechnology, pest management and conservation. For many years, critics have claimed that modern agriculture is not sustainable, one of the major assertions being that it encourages erosion, which will eventually wash away most of the topsoil. Lost topsoil, the argument goes, is virtually irreplaceable because it takes up to 300 years for one inch of soil to form. But a detailed study of two large areas, the Southern Piedmont and the Northern Mississippi Valley Loess Hills, showed that based on 1982 data, soil loss has dropped sharply from the very high rates of the 1930s. The study attributed the decrease in soil erosion to the USDA, which urged farmers after World War II to adopt conservation practices such as strip cropping, whereby alternating rows are planted, and leaving plant residues in the fields year-round to inhibit water runoff. Despite being a robust contributor to the U.S. economy, modem agriculture is not without a dark side . Runoff of fertilizers, antibiotics and hormones degrade the environment and can upset the local ecology. If not grown properly, genetically modified crops could spread their DNA to conventional species.

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

It may be just as well for Oxford University's reputation that this week's meeting of Congregation, its 3,552-strong governing body, was held in secret, for the air of civilized rationality that is generally supposed to pervade donnish conversation has lately turned fractious. That is because the vice-chancellor, the nearest thing the place has to a chief executive, has proposed the most fundamental reforms to the university since the establishment of the college system in 1249; and lots of the dons and colleges don't like it. The trouble with Oxford is that it is unmanageable. Its problems—the difficulty of recruiting good dons and of getting rid of bad ones, concerns about academic standards, severe money worries at some colleges—all spring from that. John Hood, who was recruited as vice-chancellor from the University of Auckland and is now probably the most-hated antipodean in British academic life, reckons he knows how to solve this, and has proposed to reduce the power of dons and colleges and increase that of university administrators. Mr. Hood is right that the university's management structure needs an overhaul. But radical though his proposals seem to those involved in the current row, they do not go far enough. The difficulty of managing Oxford stems only partly from the nuttiness of its system of governance; the more fundamental problem consists in its relationship with the government. That's why Mr. Hood should adopt an idea that was once regarded as teetering on the lunatic fringe of radicalism, but these days is discussed even in polite circles. The idea is independence. Oxford gets around 5,000 per undergraduate per year from the government. In return, it accepts that it can charge students only ￡1,150 (rising to ￡3,000 next year) on top of that. Since it probably costs at least ￡10,000 a year to teach an undergraduate, that leaves Oxford with a deficit of ￡4, 000 or so per student to cover from its own funds. It would lose the ￡52m undergraduate subsidy at least if Oxford declared independence. Could it fill the hole? Certainly. America's top universities charge around ￡20,000 per student per year. The difficult issue would not be money alone: it would be balancing numbers of not-so-brilliant rich people paying top whack with the cleverer poorer ones they were cross-subsidising. America's top universities manage it: high fees mean better teaching, which keeps competition hot and academic standards high, while luring enough donations to provide bursaries for the poor. It should be easier to extract money from alumni if Oxford were no longer state-funded.

One of the least mentioned effects of change relates to how it affects the manager leading that change, and his or her ability to undertake the leadership role. We have already talked about the effects of change on the individual employee, and of course managers are subject to the same reactions, resistances and strains. Some types of change, such as restructuring, or down sizing can put considerable strain on the leaders of an organization. One primary concern regarding change is the stress it imposes on those undergoing the change. Managers, because they have obligations to their staff, not only have to deal with change as employees but also need to carry some of the concerns of their staffs. In the case of downsizing, the stress levels can be extremely high, because the manager is charged with conveying very upsetting information. Stress is part of the job, but in times of change, it is critical that you recognize that it may cause you to act in ways that are less effective than usual. As with anything connected with change, the major concern is not short term but long term. If your stress levels result in marked loss of effectiveness, the risk is that a vicious cycle will be set up, where ineffective leadership results in creating more long term problems, which increases your stress, which reduces your effectiveness even more. A common response to unpleasant change is to ignore the situation. Avoidance can take many forms. Most commonly, the avoiding manager plays only a minimal role in moving the organization through the swamp. After announcing the change and doing the minimum required, the manager "hides" from the change, through delegation, or attending to other work. This tactic involves treating things as "business as usual". The outcomes of this tactic can be devastating. By avoiding situations, the manager abdicates any leadership role, when staff needs it most, during and after significant change. In addition, the avoidance results in the manager becoming out of touch with the people and realities of the organization. While avoidance serves a need for the manager in the short run, it destroys the manager"s credibility, and results in poor decisions. The long term consequence of such action is that the organization tends to deteriorate in terms of morale, effectiveness and productivity. Sometimes this deterioration is irreversible. Sometimes the manager deals with change by denying its impact. Usually, the denying manager takes a very logical approach to change. Decisions get made, systems are put in place, or new procedures are developed. Unfortunately, this "logical" approach denies the impact of change on the people in the organization. The denying manager tends to refuse to understand "what the big deal is", and shows little empathy with employees in the organization.

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

Your friend has just won the first prize in the English Speech Contest held by the English Club. Write a note of congratulations. You should write about 100 words. Do not sign your own name at the end of the note. Use "Li Ming" instead.