The following paragraphs are given in a wrong order. For Questions 41-45, you are required to reorganize these paragraphs into a coherent article by choosing from the list A-G. Some of the paragraphs have been placed for you. (10 points)A. Demographic decline worries people because it is believed to go hand in hand with economic decline. At the extremes it may well be the result of economic factors: pessimism may depress the birth rate and push up rates of suicide and alcoholism. But, in the main, demographic decline is the consequence of the low fertility that generally goes with growing prosperity. In Japan, for instance, birth rates fell below the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman in the mid-1970s and have been particularly low in the past 15 years.B. During the second half of the 20th century, the global population explosion was the big demographic annoyance. Robert McNamara, president of the World Bank in the 1970s, compared the threat of unmanageable population pressures with the danger of nuclear war. Now that worry has evaporated, and this century is frightening itself with the opposite fear: the onset of demographic decline.C. Governments hate the idea of a shrinking population because the absolute size of GDP matters for great-power status. The bigger the economy, the bigger the military, the greater the geopolitical clout: annual GDP estimates were first introduced in America in the 1940s as part of its war effort. Companies worry, too: they do not like the idea of their domestic markets shrinking. People should not mind, though. What matters for economic welfare is GDP per person.D. People love to worry—maybe it"s a symptom of ageing populations—but the gloom surrounding population declines misses the main point. The new demographics that are causing populations to age and to shrink are something to celebrate. Humanity was once caught in the trap of high fertility and high mortality. Now it has escaped into the freedom of low fertility and low mortality. Women"s control over the number of children they have is an unqualified good—as is the average person"s enjoyment, in rich countries, of ten more years of life than they had in 1960. Politicians may fear the decline of their nations" economic power, but people should celebrate the new demographics as heralding a golden age.E. The shrinkage of Russia and eastern Europe is familiar, though not perhaps the scale of it: Russia"s population is expected to fall by 22% between 2005 and 2050, Ukraine"s by a staggering 43%. Now the phenomenon is creeping into the rich world: Japan has started to shrink and others, such as Italy and Germany, will soon follow. Even China"s population will be declining by the early 2030s, according to the UN, which projects that by 2050 populations will be lower than they are today in 50 countries.F. But if demographic decline is not generally a consequence of economic decline, surely it must be a cause? In a crude sense, yes. As populations shrink, GDP growth will slow. Some economies may even start to shrink, too. The result will be a loss of economic influence.G. The crucial question is therefore what the effect of demographic decline is on the growth of GDP per person. The bad news is that this looks likely to slow because working-age populations Will decline more rapidly than overall populations. Yet this need not happen. Productivity growth may keep up growth in GDP per person: as labour becomes scarcer, and pressure to introduce new technologies to boost workers" efficiency increases, so the productivity of labour may rise faster. Anyway, retirement ages can be lifted to increase the supply of labour even when the population is declining.Order: B is the first paragraph and D is the last one.

The human Y chromosome—the DNA chunk that makes a man a man—has lost so many genes over evolutionary time that some scientists have suspected it might disappear in 10 million years. But a new study says it"ll stick around. Researchers found no sign of gene loss over the past 6 million years, suggesting the chromosome is "doing a pretty good job of maintaining itself", said researcher David Page of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Mass. That agrees with prior mathematical calculations that suggested the rate of gene loss would slow as the chromosome evolved, Page and study co-authors note in Thursday"s issue of the journal Nature. And, they say, it clashes with what Page called the "imminent demise" idea that says the Y chromosome is doomed to extinction. The Y appeared 300 million years ago and has since eroded into a dinky chromosome, because it lacks the mechanism other chromosomes have to get rid of damaged DNA. So mutations have disabled hundreds of its original genes, causing them to be shed as useless. The Y now contains only 27 genes or families of virtually identical genes. In 2003, Page reported that the modern-day Y has an unusual mechanism to fix about half of its genes and protect them from disappearing. But he said some scientists disagreed with his conclusion. The new paper focuses on a region of the Y chromosome where genes can"t be fixed that way. Researchers compared the human and chimpanzee versions of this region. Humans and chimps have been evolving separately for about 6 million years, so scientists reasoned that the comparisons would reveal genes that have become disabled in one species or the other during that time. They found five such genes on the chimp chromosome, but none on the human chromosome, an imbalance Page called surprising. "It looks like there has been little if any gene loss in our own species lineage in the last 6 million years", Page said. That contradicts the idea that the human Y chromosome has continued to lose genes so fast it"ll disappear in 10 million years, he said. "I think we can with confidence dismiss...the "imminent demise" theory", Page said. Jennifer A. Marshall Graves of the Australian National University in Canberra, a gene researcher who argues for eventual extinction of the Y chromosome, called Page"s work "beautiful" but said it didn"t shake her conviction that the Y is doomed. The only real question is when, not if, the Y chromosome disappears, she said. "It could be a lot shorter than 10 million years, but it could be a lot longer", she said. The Y chromosome has already disappeared in some other animals, and "there"s no reason to expect it can"t happen to humans", she said. If it happened in people, some other chromosome would probably take over the sex-determining role of the Y, she said.

You want to invite a friend to a party. Write an invitation letter to a friend: 1) saying where the party will be held, 2) giving the reason(s) for the party, and 3) stating what will be arranged. 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 your address. (10 points)

The problem with today's housing crisis, politically, is that it is just not all that visible. At the end of the Second World War, families with kids【C1】______into shared houses. In 1946, more than 46,000 families took over military camps, empty hotels and flats. That was a(n) 【C2】______housing crisis. Today's does not come【C3】______: most people still have somewhere to live. It is nonetheless【C4】______, and worthy of political attention. But the question of exactly why our expensive homes【C5】______a crisis is more subtly depicted than it can appear. Since 1973 at least, the total number of "dwellings" has climbed far faster than the population. How is this possible,【C6】______that building rates have【C7】______? And doesn't it mean that there isn't really a housing crisis? First, in the 1960s and 1970s, while councils happily knocked【C8】______new estates, they were also busy pulling down lots of old "【C9】______" houses too. Social housing helped people move from broken old crowded houses into【C10】______new flats or houses, typically with much more【C11】______. Meanwhile, new homes were built on green fields. Average household sizes【C12】______dramatically, even as the average house got bigger. Though the housing stock【C13】______by less than the rate of building,【C14】______got a lot more space in which to live. In recent decades,【C15】______, everyone has got a lot less space. We have had【C16】______little new building, but【C17】______we have magically created lots of new housing. Essentially, so far, the housing crisis has been【C18】______by subdividing our homes to【C19】______the extra population growth.【C20】______, what new homes we do build are the smallest in the developed world.

France, which prides itself as the global innovator of fashion, has decided its fashion industry has lost an absolute right to define physical beauty for women. Its lawmakers gave preliminary approval last week to a law that would make it a crime to employ ultra-thin models on runways. The parliament also agreed to ban websites that "incite excessive thinness" by promoting extreme dieting. Such measures have a couple of uplifting motives. They suggest beauty should not be defined by looks that end up impinging on health. That"s a start. And the ban on ultra-thin models seems to go beyond protecting models from starving themselves to death—as some have done. It tells the fashion industry that it must take responsibility for the signal it sends women, especially teenage girls, about the social tape-measure they must use to determine their individual worth. The bans, if fully enforced, would suggest to women (and many men) that they should not let others be arbiters of their beauty. And perhaps faintly, they hint that people should look to intangible qualities like character and intellect rather than dieting their way to size zero or wasp-waist physiques. The French measures, however, rely too much on severe punishment to change a culture that still regards beauty as skin-deep—and bone-showing. Under the law, using a fashion model that does not meet a government-defined index of body mass could result in a $85,000 fine and six months in prison. The fashion industry knows it has an inherent problem in focusing on material adornment and idealized body types. In Denmark, the United States, and a few other countries, it is trying to set voluntary standards for models and fashion images that rely more on peer pressure for enforcement. In contrast to France" s actions, Denmark" s fashion industry agreed last month on rules and sanctions regarding the age, health, and other characteristics of models. The newly revised Danish Fashion Ethical Charter clearly states: "We are aware of and take responsibility for the impact the fashion industry has on body ideals, especially on young people." The charter"s main tool of enforcement is to deny access for designers and modeling agencies to Copenhagen Fashion Week (CFW), which is run by the Danish Fashion Institute. But in general it relies on a name-and-shame method of compliance. Relying on ethical persuasion rather than law to address the misuse of body ideals may be the best step. Even better would be to help elevate notions of beauty beyond the material standards of a particular industry.

You borrowed a book from Wang Lin, a friend of yours. Unfortunately you lost the book and can"t find it anywhere. Write a letter to apologize for it, trying to make up for your fault. You should write about 100 words. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead. You do not need to write your address.

[A]Mostofusknowwhatit'sliketostayinajobafterit'sstoppedbeingsatisfying,ortotakeonaprojectthat'stoobigandbereluctanttoadmitit.CEOshavebeenknowntoallocatemanpowerandmoneytoprojectslongafteritbecomesclearthattheyarefailing.Thecoststoapersonwhodoesnotknowwhentoquitcanbeenormous.Ineconomicsit'sknownassunkcostfallacy.Whilewerecognizethefallacyalmostimmediatelyinothers,it'shardertoseeinourselves.Why?[B]Inoneoftheirstudies,theyputparticipantsintoeitherapromotionorpreventionfocus.Next,eachparticipantwastoldtoimaginethatheorshewasCEOofanaviationcompanythathadcommitted$10milliontodevelopingaplanethatcan'tbedetectedbyradar.Withtheprojectnearcompletionand$9millionalreadyspent,arivalcompanyannouncestheavailabilityoftheirownradar-blankplane,whichisbothsuperiorinperformanceandlowerincost.ThequestionputtoCEOswassimple:doyouinvesttheremaining$1millionandfinishyourcompany'splane,orcutyourlossesandmoveon?[C]Sunkcostsaretheinvestmentsthatyou'veputintosomethingthatyoucan'tgetbackout.Theyaretheyearsyouspenttrainingforaprofessionyouhate.Theyarethethousandsofdollarsyouspentonredecoratingyourlivingroom,onlytofindthatyouhatelivinginit.Onceyou'verealizedthatyouprobablywon'tsucceed,orthatyouareunhappywiththeresults,itshouldn'tmatterhowmuchtimeandeffortyou'vealreadyputintosomething.[D]RecentresearchbyNorthwesternUniversitypsychologistsDanielMoldenandChinMingHuidemonstratesaneffectivewaytobesureyouaremakingthebestdecisionswhenthingsgoawry:Focusonwhatyouhavetogainbymovingon,ratherthanwhatyouhavetolose.Whenpeoplethinkaboutgoalsintermsofpotentialgain,that'sa"promotionfocus",whichmakesthemmorecomfortablemakingmistakesandacceptinglosses.Whenpeopleadopta"preventionfocus",theythinkaboutgoalsintermsofwhattheycouldloseiftheydon'tsucceed,sotheybecomemoresensitivetosunkcosts.Thisisthefocuspeopleusuallyadopt,ifunconsciously,whendecidingwhetherornottowalkaway.Itusuallytellsusnottowalkaway,evenwhenweshould.[E]Thereareseveralpowerful,largelyunconsciouspsychologicalforcesatwork.Wemaythrowgoodmoneyafterbadorwastetimeinadead-endrelationshipbecausewehaven'tcomeupwithanalternative:orbecausewedon'twanttoadmittoourfriendsandfamily,ortoourselves,thatwewerewrong.Butthemostlikelycauseisthisinnate,overwhelmingaversiontosunkcosts.[F]Thetworesearchersfoundthatparticipantswithapreventionfocusstayedthecourseandinvestedtheremaining$1millionroughly80percentofthetime.Theoddsofmakingthatmistakeweresignificantlyreducedbyadoptingapromotionfocus:thosepeopleinvestedtheremaining$1millionlessthan60percentofthetime.Whenweseeourgoalsintermsofwhatwecangain,ratherthanwhatwemightlose,wearemorelikelytoseeadoomedendeavorforwhatitis.[G]AsstudiesbybehavioraleconomistslikeDanielKahnemenandDanArielyshow,peoplearegene-rallyloss-averse.Puttinginalot,onlytoendupwithnothingtoshowforit,isjusttooawfulformostofustoseriouslyconsider.Theproblemisoneoffocus.Weworryfartoomuchaboutwhatwe'11loseifwejustmoveon,insteadoffocusingonthecostsofnotmovingon:morewastedtimeandeffort,moreunhap-piness,andmoremissedopportunities.Order:

Studythefollowingpicturecarefullyandwriteanessayof160-200words.Inyouressay,youshould1)describethepicture,2)interpretitsmeaning,and3)pointoutitsimplicationsinourlife.YoushouldwriteneatlyontheANSWERSHEET.

The United States is widely recognized to have a private economy because privately owned business play【C1】______roles. The American free enterprise system【C2】______private ownership more than public sectors. Private businesses produce【C3】______goods and services,【C4】______almost two-thirds of the nation" s total economic output goes to 【C5】______for personal use. The consumer role is【C6】______great, in fact, that the nation is sometimes characterized as having a "【C7】______economy". This emphasis【C8】______private ownership arises,【C9】______, from American beliefs about personal freedom. From the time the nation was【C10】______, Americans have【C11】______excessive government power, and they have sought to【C12】______government" s authority over individuals—including its role in the economic realm. 【C13】______Americans generally believe that an economy largely with private ownership is likely to operate more 【C14】______ than【C15】______with substantial government ownership. When economic forces are unfettered, Americans believe, supply and demand【C16】______the prices of goods and services. Prices, in turn, tell businesses what to produce; if people want more of particular goods than the economy is producing, the price of the goods【C17】______. That catches the attention of new or other companies that,【C18】______an opportunity to earn profits, start producing more【C19】______that goods. On the other hand, if people want less of the goods, prices fall and less competitive producers either go out of business or start producing【C20】______goods.

HappyTeachers"Day!Writeanessayof160-200wordsbasedonthedrawing.Inyouressay,youshould1)describethedrawingbriefly,2)explainitsintendedmeaning,and3)giveyourcomments.

It is a movement building steady momentum; a call to make research data, software code and experimental methods publicly available and transparent. A spirit of openness is gaining traction in the science community, and is the only way, say advocates, to address a "crisis" in science whereby too few findings are successfully reproduced. Furthermore, they say, it is the best way for researchers to gather the range of observations that are necessary to speed up discoveries or to identify large-scale trends. The open-data shift poses a conundrum for junior researchers, who are carving out their niche. On the one hand, the drive to share is gathering official steam. Since 2013, global scientific bodies—including the European Commission, the U. S. Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Global Research Council—have begun to back policies that support increased public access to research. On the other hand, scientists disagree about how much and when they should share data, and they debate whether sharing it is more likely to accelerate science and make it more robust, or to introduce vulnerabilities and problems. As more journals and funders adopt data-sharing requirements, and as agrowing number of enthusiasts call for more openness, junior researchers must find their place between adopters and those who continue to hold out, even as they strive to launch their own careers. One key challenge facing young scientists is how to be open without becoming scientifically vulnerable. They must determine the risk of jeopardizing a job offer or a collaboration proposal from those who are wary of—or unfamiliar with—open science. And they must learn how to capitalize on the movement's benefits, such as opportunities for more citations and a way to build a reputation without the need for conventional metrics, such as publication in high-impact journals. And although there is a time cost associated with uploading and organizing raw data, subsequent queries can often be averted by adding reader-friendly instructions at the start. Hogg recommends that researchers simultaneously upload tutorials and examples of how to use the content. In the end, sharing data, software and materials with colleagues can help an early-career researcher to garner recognition—a crucial component of success. "The thing you are searching for is reputation," says Titus Brown, a genomics researcher at the University of California, Davis. "To get grants and jobs, you have to be relevant and achieve some level of public recognition. Anything you do that advances your presence—especially in a larger sphere, outside the communities you know—is a net win."

Yesterday you learnt in a newspaper advertisement that there is a job vacancy in a foreign-owned company. What is being recruited is a secretary for the manager. Write a letter to its personnel department, 1) showing your intention for the position, 2) displaying your qualifications, 3) and expressing your inquiry about an job interview. Write your letter in no less than 100 words. Write it neatly Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter, use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write the address.

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

It is all very well to blame traffic jams, the cost of petrol and the quick pace of modem life, but manners on the roads are becoming horrible. Everybody knows that the nicest men become monsters behind the wheel. It is all very well, again, to have a tiger in the trunk, but to have one in the driver"s seat is another matter altogether. You might tolerate the odd road-hog, the rode and inconsiderate driver, but nowadays the well-mannered motorist is the exception to the role. Perhaps the situation calls for a "Be Kind to Other Drivers" campaign, otherwise it may get completely out of hand. Road politeness is not only good manners, but good sense too. It takes the most cool-headed and good-tempered of drivers to resist the temptations to revenge when subjected to uncivilized behavior. On the other hand, a little politeness goes a long way towards relieving the tensions of motoring. A friendly and or a wave of acknowledgement in response to an act of politeness helps to create as atmosphere of goodwill and tolerance so necessary in modem conditions. But such acknowledgements of politeness are all too rare today. Many drivers nowadays don"t even seem able to recognize politeness when they see it. However, misplaced politeness can also be dangerous. Typical examples are the driver who brakes violently to allow a car to emerge from a side street at some hazard to following traffic, when a few seconds later the road would be clear anyway; or the man who waves a child across a zebra crossing into the path of oncoming vehicles that may be unable to stop in time. The same goes for encouraging old ladies to cross the road wherever and whenever they care to. It always amazes me that the highways are not covered with the dead bodies of these grannies. A veteran driver, whose manners are faultless, told me it would help if motorists learnt to filter correctly into traffic streams one at a time without causing the total blockages that give rise to bad temper. Unfortunately, modem motorists cant even-learn to drive, let alone master the subtler aspects of roadsmanship. Years ago the experts warned us that the car-ownership explosion would demand a lot more give-and-take from all road users. It is high time for all of us to take the message to heart.

The change met the technical requirement of the new age and prevented the decline in efficiency that so commonly spoiled the fortunes of family firms in the second and third generation after the energetic founders.

Back in the 16th century, political plays were all about men. Not now. For some time, American female playwrights have followed the (1)_____ of Wendy Wasserstein, a 50-year-old Brooklyn-born dramatist, whose work has focused (2)_____ family drama and personal (3)_____. Overtly political plays were considered (4)_____ and unfashionable. But this is no longer so often the (5)_____. A new generation of female playwrights (6)_____ tackling such subjects (7)_____ racism, rape and apartheid. The quality of these plays has varied (8)_____. The best (9)_____ their subjects with nuance and subtlety, while it is the more controversial productions (10)_____ fall flat. With topical issues now the stuff of shallow, made-for-television movies, audiences are looking to the theatre for something more (11)_____. Rebecca Gilman"s previous play, "Spinning into Butter", dealt with white racism in academia; her current drama, "Boy Gets Girl", gives a feminist take on male searching and objectification of women. Kia Corthron has three plays, including "Force Continuum", (12)_____ with racial issues (13)_____ or coming to the New York stage this year. But perhaps the most (14)_____ recent play on political themes to (15)_____ is "The Syringa Tree", a one-woman show about segregation in South Africa in the 1960s, written and (16)_____ by Pamela Glen. (17)_____ the play had trouble (18)_____ an audience when it (19)_____ in September last year, critical acclaim and persistent word-of-mouth followed, gradually (20)_____ to make "The Syringa Tree" one of the city"s most popular offerings.

A recent parliamentary report blames the government and the food industry for the growth in obesity. The Department of Transport is blamed for not doing enough to【C1】______facilities for pedestrians and cyclists while【C2】______to pressure from motoring organizations representing car users. The Ministry of Education is【C3】______of selling off school playing fields and not doing enough to【C4】______adequate facilities for physical education and games. Young people in Britain have become crazy about football(soccer and rugby), but too often as【C5】______"couch potatoes". The food industry is blamed for promoting junk food to school children and not doing enough to【C6】______down on sugar, fats and salt in prepared foods. The industry, 【C7】______by the current popularity of the Atkins low-carbohydrate diet, has begun to【C8】______, but it is trying to protect a huge market and will need to do【C9】______more if it is to【C10】______off increased regulation. Japan seems less【C11】______so far by the problem of obesity, 【C12】______as the Japanese diet becomes increasingly【C13】______(burgers and doughnuts)the problem will grow.【C14】______, Japanese cuisine has become highly popular in Britain. It is seen as healthy in a different way from the Mediterranean diet【C15】______its emphasis on tomatoes and olive oil combined with red wine. A fairly small amount of red wine is now【C16】______as beneficial to the heart, 【C17】______its other encouraging properties. But Britain has to do more to【C18】______the problems of alcoholism【C19】______with the binge-drinking culture—including violence and vandalism. Limited consumption of alcohol, as long as it is not【C20】______with driving's harmless and possibly beneficial.

Harvard thrilled middle-class parents last week by capping its tuition for families with incomes of up to $180,000 at 10 percent of their earnings. The move sparked hopes of a donation race that could ease the soaring costs of college. Earlier this month, Duke joined a group of schools including Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford that promise free rides to low-income students. But many point out that these gestures will affect only a few hundred lucky students. The outlays are so comparatively small that they are unlikely to divert pressure for reforms in the ways colleges spend their money—especially the estimated $380 billion of endowment funds stored in tax-free accounts. "It"s an important gesture," College Parents of America President James Boyle says of Harvard. But colleges should do more now with the money they"ve socked away for a rainy day, he says. The numbers are smaller, but the story is similar at other colleges. The average endowment has been reaping 10 percent a year on investments since 2004. But colleges spent an average of just 4.6 percent of their endowments last year while raising tuition faster than the rate of inflation. That troubles folks like Sen. Chuck Grassley, who"s pushing Congress to require wealthy colleges to spend at least 5 percent of their endowments every year. "Tax-exempt organizations are supposed to provide public benefit in exchange for their special status," he said. "Helping the next generation afford college is a public benefit. " Many college officials, of course, are battling such rule changes. While Harvard, Yale, and Princeton all have more than $1 million worth of endowment per student, half of all colleges have no more than $2,000 per student saved up. Even high-earning schools say they already are spending as much as they should. Chris Bittman, chief investment officer of the University of Colorado Foundation, racked up almost 23 percent in returns last fiscal year, bringing the school"s endowment to nearly $800 million. He supports the school"s policy of spending 4.5 percent. Recent big profits can"t last forever, he says. Instead, endowments should plan on earning the long-term average of 10 percent. Still, pressure appears to be forcing some changes. In June, Stanford announced it would increase its endowment spending to 5.5 percent, or $160 million a year. If every school followed suit, that would free up about $4 billion a year(or $200 per student)to increase aid or keep tuition prices down. Or as Richard Vedder, an Ohio University economist, says, " a small step for mankind ."

There are many features that (1)_____ a movie as American, but perhaps the most (2)_____ is the theme of the loner-hero(孤胆英雄). In the western movie, which comes out of many (3)_____ of the American West, a typical figure is the lonesome cowboy. He wanders into a town and (4)_____ out its troubles. Then the strong and independent hero rides off into the sunset (5)_____. Americans like this (6)_____ in their films because they are (7)_____ independent, and individualism (8)_____ a great deal with them. An individual, who is able to (9)_____ the evils of the world, or of a small town, is someone to admire. Even the gangster movie, a very popular (10)_____ of the typical American film, usually has a hero. (11)_____ he is a lawman out to catch the criminals or a gangster who suddenly sees the light and tries to go (12)_____ During the violence-ridden period of Prohibition in the 1920s, the gangster movie (13)_____ in popularity. These films kept the same. (14)_____ as the western—the bad cannot triumph. One good person can save the innocent. Recent science fiction films deal (15)_____ the same theme. Against the forces of the alien powers, people will fight to protect their ideals. Here, too, the action (16)_____ around a single individual, (17)_____ now he or she must save the world. The hero battles the unknown, trusting in inner capabilities and in the power of good (18)_____ evil. Fearless, the hero of a typical American movie does not (19)_____ to jump into the action. This dominant theme of the American movie is familiar (20)_____ people around the world.

You are going to read a text about the tips on preparing a new garden, followed by a list of examples. Choose the best example from the list for each numbered subheading. There is one extra example, which you do not need to use. Whether you recently moved into a new home or you"ve just got the gardening itch, planning a new garden can be a great deal of fun. The opportunity to act as creator can be very appealing. But anyone who has gardened for long has learned the necessity of accommodating nature and has developed a sense of humility in the process. (41) Weather matters The first thing to determine is what will grow in the spot available for your garden. This is where many gardeners make their first mistake. Too often plants are purchased before thought has been given to the conditions under which they will have to grow. One of chief factors determining what will grow in a particular spot is the weather conditions the plants will be subjected to. (42) Lay of the land Next, you will need to determine what type of soil you"ll be working with. The three main constituents of soil are sand, silt and clay, Silt particles are of intermediate size. An ideal garden soil, or loam, would be about 40% sand, 40% silt and 20% clay. (43) Amend your soil The best way to amend a poor soil, whether sandy, clay or silty, is to add organic matter. Add a combination of topsoil and peat moss or compost will do a great help. (44) Keep a watch on moisture Soil moisture is obviously tied to the climate of the area where you live, but even in a small yard there can be wide variations. If your garden is at the bottom of a hill, the soil may remain wet for long periods of time. In this situation, you can try creating a raised bed, but it is best to stick to plants that enjoy having their feet wet. (45) Don"t fight mother nature While some measures can be taken to make your garden a hospitable place for particular plants, your experience will be much more rewarding if you learn to work with nature. You will save yourself a lot of time, money and grief. The hardest thing to convince new gardeners of is the need for patience. With the first warm day of spring they are eager to begin planting and nothing can stop them. Many of these bursts of enthusiasm yield ill-conceived gardens doomed to failure. The plants wither and the would-be gardeners become convinced that they lack some secret knowledge or inherent skill. In most of these cases, however, a few hours of planning and preparation would have made all the difference. It is quite easy to dig up a plot and throw some plants in the ground. It is another thing entirely to create a healthy, living garden.A. Azaleas in bloom might look great when the sun"s out, but if they were planted beneath some protection from the glare, they might not be constantly infested with bugs. Of course, you can spray them regularly with insecticide, but now your garden is becoming about as environmentally friendly as an oil refinery.B. A colleague of mine had just bought a new house, and was brimming with excitement about his new garden. He planted a splendid garden, filled with plants unsuitable for our comparatively cold climate, and in a few months, most of his plants had either withered or become diseased. He thought he lacked some secret knowledge, but I knew why!C. My neighbor complained that the earth in his garden was poor and didn"t drain easily. I advised him to do as I had done, and go down to the beach for his solution.D. The water table is very high in my area. At first I tried to fight this in my garden, but eventually I realized that I could use this to my advantage—now I have a beautiful pond full of lilies.E. Unfortunately, my own garden does not have the best of soil. My solution to this problem is to keep all the cuttings when I mow the lawn. Once these have rotted down, I dig them into the soil to make it richer and much better for growing.F. My friend"s garden is very beautiful, but unfortunately, his house looks a little drab. My advice to him was to purchase some climbing plants that he could encourage to grow on trellises fixed to his wall—now his house looks very natural.