Water Problem

When prehistoric man arrived in new parts of the world, something strange happened to the large animals: they suddenly became extinct. Smaller species survived. The large, slow-growing animals were easy game, and were quickly hunted to extinction. Now something similar could be happening in the oceans. That the seas are being overfished has been known for years. What researchers such as Ransom Myers and Boris Worm have shown is just how fast things are changing. They have looked at half a century of data from fisheries around the world. Their methods do not attempt to estimate the actual biomass(the amount of living biological matter)offish species in particular parts of the ocean, but rather changes in that biomass over time. According to their latest paper published in Nature, the biomass of large predators(animals that kill and eat other animals)in a new fishery is reduced on average by 80% within 15 years of the start of exploitation. In some long-fished areas, it has halved again since then. Dr. Worm acknowledges that these figures are conservative . One reason for this is that fishing technology has improved. Today"s vessels can find their prey using satellites and sonar, which were not available 50 years ago. That means a higher proportion of what is in the sea is being caught, so the real difference between present and past is likely to be worse than the one recorded by changes in catch sizes. In the early days, too, longlines would have been more saturated with fish. Some individuals would therefore not have been caught, since no baited hooks would have been available to trap them, leading to an underestimate of fish stocks in the past. Furthermore, in the early days of longline fishing, a lot of fish were lost to sharks after they had been hooked. That is no longer a problem, because there are fewer sharks around now. Dr. Myers and Dr. Worm argue that their work gives a correct baseline, which future management efforts must take into account. They believe the data support an idea current among marine biologists, that of the "shifting baseline." The notion is that people have failed to detect the massive changes which have happened in the ocean because they have been looking back only a relatively short time into the past. That matters because theory suggests that the maximum sustainable yield that can be cropped from a fishery comes when the biomass of a target species is about 50% of its original levels. Most fisheries are well below that, which is a bad way to do business.

A new era is upon us. Call it what you will: the service economy, the information age, the knowledge society. It is all translated to a fundamental change in the way we work. Already we"ve partly been there. The percentage of people who earn their living by making things has fallen dramatically in the Western World. Today the majority of jobs in America, Europe and Japan (two thirds or more in many of these countries) are in the service industry, and the number is on the rise. More women are in the work force than ever before. There are more part time jobs. More people are self-employed. But the breadth of the economic transformation can"t be measured by numbers alone, because it is also giving rise to a radical new way of thinking about the nature of work itself. Long-held notions about jobs and careers, the skills needed to succeed, even the relation between individuals and employers—all these are being changed. We have only to look behind us to get some sense of what may lie ahead No one looking ahead 20 years possibly could have foreseen the ways in which d single invention, the chip(芯片), would transform our world thanks to its applications in personal computers, digital communications and factory robots. Tomorrow"s achievements in biotechnology, artificial Intelligence or even some still unimagined technology could produce a similar wave of dramatic changes. But one thing is certain: information and knowledge will become even more vital, and the people who possess it, whether they work in manufacturing or services, will have the advantage and produce the wealth. Computer knowledge will become as basic a requirement as the ability to read and write. The ability to solve problems by applying information instead of performing routine tasks will be above all else. If you cast your mind ahead 10 years, information services will be predominant. It will be the way you do your job.

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) On the ground floor of a five-story building in Rome, Italy, a man carefully places a 400-year-old painting on a table. Then he steps back and flips the switch of a 50,000-volt X-ray machine. Nearby, another painting is being wheeled into a special oven. Elsewhere the buzz of a power saw is heard from behind a closed door. Two workers are cutting the back off a 500-year-old wood panel painting. Such things happen every day at Rome"s Institute of Restoration. (41)______. In terms of all treasures, Italy is one of the richest countries in the world. Yet until 1939, when Italy"s government founded the Institute, the country" s museums had to hire private restorers for cleaning and repair jobs. Says Doctor Urbani, "Most of the restorers did not have proper training. They often did more harm than good." No wonder they did harm. (42)______. (43)______. Sometimes they even changed the picture. Any number of things can damage "an art work. Smog eats away at stone and metal. Insects chew wood. Moisture causes wood and canvas to swell, shrink and finally rot. For one art show, a painting was flown from England to Rome. During the flight, the canvas shrank so much that the paint lost its grip and began peeling. When the box was opened in Rome, there was a halfbare painting—and a pile of tiny colored flakes. Doctor Urbani remembers, "The painting was rushed to us. It looked hopeless. But we never give up on a case." After months of slow, careful work, every piece of paint had been puzzled back together and glued on a new canvas. The job was so well done that no damage could be seen. When a painting arrives at the art hospital, it goes to the laboratory, where scientific work is done. Infrared and ultra-violet photographs are taken. (44)______. Newer coats of paint stand out as dark spots against older coats of paint, if there seems to be a different picture beneath the one showing on the surface, the painting is finally X-rayed. Paintings on wood are then carried into a boxcar sized room. (45)______. For 24 hours, a deadly gas seeps into all the cracks in the wood to kill hidden bugs and their eggs. Paintings on torn canvas go to a room where new cloth hackings are glued and ironed on. Finally the paintings are ready to be given new life by one of the restorers.A. Instead of just touching up damaged spots, most early restorers painted over them with a heavy hand.B. Using these photographs and an analysis of the paint, it began removing dirt and old, yellowed varnish with cotton dipped in a special liquid.C. Headed by Doctor Giovanui Urbani, the men and women here work at keeping works of art in good health.D. These photographs make it possible to see through the thin top coats of paint to find out if the painting has been touched up or painted over in the past.E. They often cleaned paintings with strong black soap, or scrubbed them with raw onions and green apples.F. The door is sealed shut.G. After cleaning, they began the job of filling in the spots where paint was missing.

You are planning to invite several good friends to dinner. Write an invitation letter with the following information1. when and where to hold the dinner;2. who you will invite;3. show your sincere welcome.You should write about 100 words, do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Martin" instead. You do not need to write the address.

Donation Write a letter of about 100 words based on the following situation: The students in your university have donated some money and clothes to the earthquake stricken area in Sichuan. As the chairman of the Student Union, write a letter to the Red Cross to donate these donations. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "The Student Union" instead. Do not write the address.

Many people are concerned about the economic condition of developing countries—countries whose average per capita GNP is a fraction of that in more industrialized countries. However, for the developing countries, there exist many obstacles to their economic development. One major obstacle to economic development is population growth. (46) The populations of most developing countries grow at a rate much faster than those of industrialized countries, and the population of some of them is so large that there is barely enough fertile land and other resources to support it. Many less developed countries depend extensively on agriculture, adding to the problem. In these countries, an incentive to have many children exists. (47) Most farms are worked by families, and children can work in the fields at an early age because most farmers believe that more children means more workers. In addition, having many children ensures the parents that someone will look after them in their old age. Another problem for developing countries is increasing average life expectancy—the average remaining lifetime for persons who reach a certain age. Better education, international aid, and emphasis on health-care facilities help people live longer. A high life expectancy coupled with a high crude birthrate makes it difficult to increase per capita GNP. Another obstacle to economic growth is limited natural resources. No country can develop beyond its resource potential. Unproductive land or a harsh climate can limit economic growth. (48) Some countries may be fortunate enough to discover a valuable mineral to finance their economic development, but most focus on agriculture and, as a result, their economic growth is hindered by the shortage of natural resources or energy sources needed for industry. Still another obstacle to economic development is a lack of appropriate education and technology. Any developing countries do not have a highly literate population or the high level of technical skills needed to build an industrial society. In addition, most do not have money to train engineers and scientists. (49) Many developing countries cannot even afford to provide free public education for school-age children, and in those that can, not every child is able to take advantage of it because most of them have to work to help feed their families. As a result, much of the population may not have the basic skills needed to continue with higher education when it is offered. Government also can be an obstacle to economic development. A country whose government often changes will have a hard time developing economically. Such constant changes impede long-term planning. (50) Economic development is made even more difficult if the political changes occur through violent revolution where industrial facilities may be destroyed.

SuccessandPersistenceWriteanessayof160-200wordsbasedonthedrawing.Inyouressay,youshould1)describethedrawingbriefly,2)explainitsintendedmeaning,and3)giveyourcomments.

BSection III Writing/B

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

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) In France, as in many European countries, friends generally are of the same sex, and friendship is seen as basically a relationship between men. (41)______. And many French people doubt the possibility of a friendship between a man and a woman. There is also the kind of relationship within a group—men and women who have worked together for a long time, who may be very close, sharing great loyalty and warmth of feeling. They may call one another—copains—a word that in English becomes "friends" but has more the feeling of "pals or "buddies". In French eyes this is not friendship, although two members of such a group may well be friends. For the French, friendship is one-to-one relationship that demands a keen awareness of the other person"s intellect, temperament and particular interests. (42)______. Your political philosophy assumes more depth, appreciation of a play becomes sharper, taste in food or wine is enhanced, enjoyment of a sport is intensified. And French friendships are divided into categories. A man may play chess with a friend for thirty years without knowing his political opinion, or he may talk politics with him for a long time without knowing about his personal life. (43)______. These friendships are not made part of family life. A friend is not expected to spend evenings being nice to children or courteous to a deaf grandmother. These duties, also serious and required, are primarily for relatives. Men who are friends may meet in a café. Intellectual friends may meet in large groups for evenings of conversation. Working people may meet at the little bistro where they drink and talk, far from the family. (44)______. In the past in France, friendships of this kind seldom were open to any but intellectual women. The special relationship of friendship is based on what the French value most—on the mind, on having the same outlook, on vivid a awareness of some chosen area of life. (45)______.A. A friend is someone who draws out your own best qualities, with whom you sparkle and become more of whatever the friendship draws upon.B. Between French friends, who have chosen each other for the similarity of their point of view, lively disagreement and sharpness of argument are the breath of life.C. Frenchwomen laugh at the idea that "women can"t be friends", but they also admit sometimes that for women "it is a different thing".D. Marriage does not affect such friendship; wives don"t have to be taken into account.E. Since most women"s lives centered on their homes, their warmest relations with other women often went back to their girlhood.F. A Frenchman explains," if I were to say to you in France, "This is my good friend," that person would not be as close to me as someone about whom I said only, "This is my friend. "Anyone about whom I have to say more is really less".G. Different friends fill different niches in each person"s life.

Lately social scientists have begun to ask if culture is found just in humans, or if some animals have culture too. When we speak of culture, we mean a way of life a group of people have in common Culture includes the beliefs and attitudes we learn. It is the patterns of behavior that help people to live together. It is also the patterns of behavior that make one group of people different from another group. Our culture lets us make up for having lost our strength, claws, long teeth, and other defenses. Instead, We use tools, cooperate with one another, and communicate in language. But these aspects of human behavior, or "culture", can also be found in the lives of certain animals. We used to think that the ability to use tools was the dividing line between human beings and other animals. Lately, however, we have found that this is not the case. Chimpanzees can not only use tools but actually make tools themselves. This is a major step up from simply picking up a handy object and using it. For example, chimps have been seen stripping the leaves and twigs off a branch, then putting it into a termite nest. When the termites bite at the stick, the chimp removes it and eats them off the end—not unlike our use of a fork! For some time we thought that although human beings learned their culture, animals couldn"t be taught such behavior. Or even if they could learn, they would not teach one another in the way people do. This too has proven to be untrue. A group of Japanese monkeys was studied at the Kyoto University Monkey Centre in Japan. They were given sweet potatoes by scientists who wanted to attract them to the shore of an island. One day a young female began to wash her sweet potato to get rid of the sand. This practice soon spread through out the group. It became, learned behavior, not "from humans but from other monkeys. Now almost all monkeys who have not come into contact with this group do not. Thus we have a "cultural" difference among animals. We have ruled out tool use and invention as ways of telling animal behavior from human behavior. We have also ruled out learning and sharing of behavior. Yet we still have held out the last feature—language. But even the use of language can no longer separate human culture from animal culture. Attempts to teach apes to speak have failed. However, this is because apes do not have the proper vocal organs. But teaching them language has been very successful if we are willing to accept another forms rather than just the spoken word. Two psychologists trained a chimpanzee named Washoe to use Standard American Sign Language. This is the same language used by deaf people. In this language, "talk" is made through gestures, and not by spelling out words with individual letters. By the time she was five years old, Washoe had a vocabulary of 130 signs. Also, she could put them together in new ways that had not been taught her originally. This means she could create language and not just copy it. She creates her own sentences that have real meaning. This has allowed two-way talk. It permits more than one-way command and response. Of course, there are limits to the culture of animals. As far as we know, no ape has formed social institutions such as religion, law, or economics. Also, some chimps may be able to learn sign language; but this form of language is limited in its ability to communicate abstract ideas. Yet with a spoken language we can communicate our entire culture to anyone else who knows that language. Perhaps the most important thing we have learned from studies of other animals is that the line dividing us from them is not as clear as we used to think.

Globalization, a process whereby owners of capital are enabled to move their capital around the globe more quickly and easily, has resulted in the removal of state controls on trade and investment, the disappearance of tariff barriers and the spread of new information and communications technologies. In societies around the world, the effects of globalization have influenced social development. Not only are the influences of globalization apparent in markets, their forces are felt in the processes or working towards equality between men and women. Reda Bebars of Egypt, stressing that the advancement of women would not be achieved by passing legislation, said that social development on the national scale must be strengthened and a climate conducive to development must be created if the goals set in Beijing (at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women) are to be realized. The problems stem from the fact that women are very differently positioned in relation to the markets in different parts of the world. In certain places, where women are socially excluded from leaving their homes, the challenge is to find ways for women to participate. In other places, the challenge is to create markets which are more friendly to women"s participation. Ilham Ibrahim Mohamed Ahmed of Sudan condemned the debt burden carried by developing countries, economic sanctions, arbitrary measures and denial of access to new technological developments as obstacles to the growth of women"s rights. Women remain very much in the minority among Internet users and still face huge imbalances in the ownership, control and regulation of new information technologies. "The gains of globalization have not been equitably distributed and the gap between rich and poor countries is widening," said Zhang Lei of the People"s Republic of China. The gains of globalization thus far have for the most part been concentrated in the hands of better-off women with higher levels of education and with greater ownership of resources and access to capital. "Work in China and Vietnam shows that globalization has brought new opportunities to young women with familiarity with English in new service sector jobs, but has made a vast number of over-35-year-olds redundant, because they are either in declining industries or have outdated skills," Swasti Mitter of the UN"s Women Watch Online Working Group on Women"s Economic Inequality said.

Teachers grumble over pay everywhere, but in West Virginia Wesleyan College the anger is acute. Salaries here have barely moved since 2000, and the average assistant professor"s pay has fallen below that at Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College. On a campus with just 86 full-time faculty, a sociology professor said, a few hundred thousand dollars more spent on teaching could make a real difference. Wesleyan President William Haden says the college plans to raise faculty pay. But he says Wesleyan is nothing without students—"they vote with their feet"—and the college has no choice but to address their wants and needs. He says technology has been a big part of that, and some recent graduates agree that it"s valuable—though maybe not essential. Daniel Simmons, a 1999 graduate and also a middle-school teacher, praised the technology program. "If I had gone to another school it wouldn"t have been available to me", he said. "It was very convenient and it was top of the line". But as with the faculty, the quality of human instructors is a big concern among Wesleyan alumni. "A little bit more money should have been put into keeping people", said Evan Keeling, a 2002 graduate now pursuing a doctorate at the University of Virginia. He found the quality in the classroom uneven, and, notably, neither he nor the Daniel Simmons came to Wesleyan because of technology. The program was a bonus, not the primary draw. Skinner, the director of admission and financial planning, acknowledged that seems widely true. Prospective students pay more attention to more tangible signs of growth. "It did open some doors for us, but would I have liked to have had a new residence hall or recreational facility? I probably would have preferred that", Skinner said. His daily struggle remains filling the freshman class, which may be down 50 people or more this year, due to changes in government financial aid programs and the shuttering of the nursing program. The college still accepts about 80 percent of its applicants, and no longer requires online applications. Haden acknowledges that, with the benefit of hindsight, he might have handled details of how the program was financed differently. But he makes no apologies for taking bold steps which he says have indeed set Wesleyan apart. "We needed to make a statement about our commitment to technology and our belief that it would enhance the quality of education and the preparation of our students", he said. "And I"m still believing that".

The boy has become quite impolite and it is more than his parents can bear.

In a democratic society citizens are encouraged to form their own opinions on candidates for public office, taxes, constitutional amendments, environmental concerns, foreign policy, and other issues. The opinions held by any population are shaped and manipulated by sever al factors: individual circumstances, the mass media, special interest groups, and opinion leaders. Wealthy people tend to think differently on social issues from poor people. Factory workers probably do not share the same views as white-collar, nonunion workers. Women employed outside their homes sometimes have perspectives different from those of fulltime home makers. In these and other ways individual status shapes one"s view of current events. The mass media, especially television, are powerful influences on the way people think and act. Government officials note how mail from the public tends to "follow the headlines". Whatever is featured in newspapers and magazines and on television attracts enough attention that people begin to inform them and to express opinions. The mass media have also created larger audiences for government and a wider range of pubic issues than existed before. Prior to television and the national editions of newspapers, issues and candidates tended to remain localized. In Great Britain and West Germany, for ex ample, voters as local contests usually viewed elections to the national legislatures. Today"s elections are seen as struggles between party leaders and programs. In the United States radio and television have been beneficial to the presidency. Since the days of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his "fireside chats", presidents have appealed directly to a national audience over the heads of Congress to advocate their pro grams. Special groups spend vast sums annually trying to influence public opinion. Public utilities, for instance, tried to sway public opinion in favor of nuclear power plants. Opposed to them were citizens" organizations that lobbied to halt the use of nuclear power. During the 1960s the American Medical Association conducted an unsuccessful advertising campaign designed to present the passage of medicate. Opinion leaders are usually such prominent public figures as politicians, show business personalities, and celebrity athletes. The opinions of these individuals, whether informed and intelligent or not carry weight with some segments of the population. Some individuals, such as Nobel prizewinners, are suddenly thrust into public view by the media. By quickly reaching a large audience, their views gain a hearing and are perhaps influential in shaping views on complex issues.

One problem with much personality research is that it examines and rates whatever traits the researchers are interested in at the time: conscientiousness, emotional stability and so on. But when we【C1】______someone in real life, we don't consider an array of personality measures; instead, we focus on a few【C2】______traits that sum up the【C3】______of the person. One is particularly anxious, another is【C4】______reliable, yet another is a "live wire". While we might hesitate to characterize individuals along every personality dimension, we can accurately identify them【C5】______their key characteristics. In research at Stanford University, Daryl Ben and Andrea Allen tested this idea by first asking college students【C6】______they were consistently or only occasionally friendly and then【C7】______their parents and friends how friendly the students were. Ben and Allen observed how the students acted under two specific conditions: 【C8】______they spoke in small groups and how quickly they【C9】______a conversation with strangers. The researchers found that students who considered themselves consistently friendly were indeed more likely to be【C10】______in both circumstances than were those who【C11】______themselves only intermittently friendly.【C12】______that, the friendliness ratings by parents and peers of the students who were consistently friendly were very similar【C13】______the students' self-ratings and【C14】______accurately how they would act in two conditions. It seems that we can【C15】______ourselves accurately and that others can rate us very well on traits【C16】______serve as our trademarks. To predict how someone will behave in a given situation, we must【C17】______the requirements of the situation with the trademark characteristics of the person【C18】______. People who are strongly of one type or【C19】______should react predictably in a given situation, 【C20】______the behavior of other, more diffuse personalities is harder to anticipate.

【F1】 This is supposed to be an enlightened age, but you wouldn"t think so if only you could hear what the average man thinks of the average woman. Women won their independence years ago. After a long, bitter struggle, they now enjoy the same educational opportunities as men in most parts of the world. They have proved repeatedly that they are equal and often superior to men in almost every field. The hard-fought battle for recognition has been won, but it is through no means over.【F2】 It is men, not women who still carry on the sex war because their attitude remains basically hostile, even in the most progressive societies, women continue to be regarded as second-rate citizens. To hear some men talk, you"d think that women belonged to a different species! On the surface, the comments made through men about women"s abilities seem light-hearted. The same tired jokes about women drivers are repeated day in and day out. This apparent light hearted ness does not conceal the real contempt that men feel for women. However much men sneer at women, their claims to superiority are not borne out through statistics. Let"s consider the matter of driving, for instance. We all know that women cause far fewer accidents than men. They are too conscientious and responsible to drive like maniacs. But this is a minor quibble. Women have succeeded in any job you care to name.【F3】 As politicians, soldiers, doctors, factory hands, university professors, farmers, company directors, lawyers, bus-conductors, scientists and presidents of countries they have often put men to shame. And we must remember that they frequently succeed brilliantly in all these fields in addition to bearing and rearing children. Yet men go on maintaining the fiction that there are many jobs women can not do.【F4】 Top level political negotiation between countries, business and banking are almost entirely controlled through men, who jealously guard their so-called "rights". Even in otherwise enlightened places like Switzerland women haven teven been given the vote. This situation is preposterous! The truth is that men cling to their supremacy because of their basic inferiority complex. They shun real competition. They know in their hearts that women are superior and they are afraid of being beaten at their own game. One of the most important tasks in the world is to achieve peace between the nations.【F5】 You can be sure that if only women were allowed to sit round the conference table, they would succeed brilliantly, as they always do, where men have failed for centuries.

Write a letter to a company for a position as an computer engineer. Your letter should include: 1) why you choose the company; 2) why do you think that you are capable for the position. You should write about 100 words. Do not sign your name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Hua" instead. You do not need to write the address.

People today all over the world are beginning to hear and learn more and more about the problem of pollution. (46) Pollution is caused by either the release by man of completely new and often artificial substances into the environment, or by releasing greatly increased amounts of a natural substance, such as oil from oil tankers into the sea. (47) The whole industrial process which makes many of the goods and machines we need and use in our daily lives, is bound to create a number of waste products which upset the environmental balance, or the ecological balance as it is also known. (48) Many of these waste products can be prevented or disposed of sensibly, but clearly while more and more new goods are produced and made complex, there will be new, dangerous wastes to be disposed of, for example, the waste products from nuclear power stations. (49) Whatever its underlying reasons, there is no doubt that much of the pollution caused could be controlled if only companies, individuals and governments would make more efforts. In the home there is an obvious need to control litter and waste. Food comes wrapped up three or four times in packages that all have to be disposed of; drinks are increasingly sold in bottles or tins which cannot be reused. This not only causes a litter problem, but also is a great waste of resources, in terms of glass, metals and paper. Advertising helped this process by persuading many of us not only to buy things we neither want nor need, but also to throw away much of what we do buy. (50) Pollution and waste combine to be a problem every one can help to solve by cutting out unnecessary buying, excess consumption and careless disposal of the products we use in our daily lives.