Bobby and his master, farmer John Gray, were familiar sights in Edinburgh. Every Wednesday after a visit to market and exactly as the time-gun boomed one o"clock, the two would enter Traill"s Dining Room for their midday meal, a frugal lunch for Gray, and a bun for Bobby. Then in 1858, the schedule was interrupted. Farmer Gray died. Three days after the funeral exactly at one o"clock, Traill found him self looking into a pair of beseeching canine eyes. Bobby got his bun and disappeared. This was repeated for several days until Traill"s curiosity got the better of him. He followed the small terrier as he left and raced to his master"s grave. There he remained each day, fair or foul, despite the efforts of dog-loving townspeople to give him a new home. The graveyard caretaker, while sympathetic, was at first not so willing to let him in. But Bobby"s devotion and fidelity were so great that the caretaker provided Bobby with a shelter close to the grave to protect him from bad weather. Then, after nine years, Bobby was arrested as a vagrant because he had no license. The restaurant keeper appeared in court with Bob by mile was released by merciful justice. But just to make sure the law could not touch him. Lord Provost William Chambers paid Bobby"s fee each year and presented him with a brass-plated collar inscribed "Grey friars" Bobby from The Lord Provost, 1876, License." After that, Grey friars" Bobby was allowed to keep his lonely vigil undisturbed. He never varied his mealtime. Each day he left the graveyard as the gun roared one o"clock to pick up his bun and take it back to eat at his master"s side. He must have been really hardy for he lived until 1872, having kept to his solitary post for fourteen long years. He was buried in Grey friars, of course, in a flower bed near John Gray"s tombstone.

Canceling an Invitation Write a note of about 100 words based on the following situation: You have invited Laura to your birthday tea party. But there is some emergency and you have to cancel the party. Now write her a note to cancel the invitation and explain why. Do not sign your own name at the end of the note. Use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write the address.

Write an essay according to the following title, in which you should: 1) give your comment; 2) write about 200 words neatly. Title: What Lessons Can Chinese Draw from SARS? Note: SARS: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndromes(严重急性呼吸道综合症).

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) (41)______. Through laziness and cowardice a large part of mankind, even after nature has freed them from alien guidance, gladly remain immature. It is because of laziness and coward ice that it is so easy for others to usurp the role of guardians. It is so comfortable to be a minor! If I have a book which provides meaning for me, a doctor who will judge my diet for me and so on, then I do not need to exert myself. I do not have any need to think; if I can pay, others will take over the tedious job for me. The guardians who have kindly undertaken the supervision will see to it that by far the largest part of mankind, including the entire "beautiful sex," should consider the step into maturity, not only as difficult but as very dangerous. (42)______. It is difficult for the isolated individual to work himself out of the immaturity which has become almost natural for him. He has even become fond of it and for the time being is incapable of employing his own intelligence, because he has never been allowed to make the attempt. Statues and formulas, these mechanical tools of a serviceable use, or rather misuse, of his natural faculties, are the ankle-chains of a continuous immaturity. Whoever threw it off would make an uncertain jump over the smallest trench because he is not accustomed to such free movement. Therefore there are only a few who have pursued a firm path and have succeeded in escaping from immaturity by their own cultivation of the mind. But it is more nearly possible for a public to enlighten itself: this is even inescapable if only the public is given its freedom. For there will always be some people who think for themselves, even among the self-appointed guardians of the great mass who, after having thrown off the yoke of immaturity themselves, will spread about them the spirit of a reasonable estimate of their own value and of the need for every man to think for himself... (43)______. Through revolution, the abandonment of personal despotism may be engendered and the end of profit-seeking and domineering oppression may occur, but never a true reform of the state of mind. Instead, new prejudices, just like the old ones, will serve as the guiding reins of the great, unthinking mass. (44)______. But I hear people clamor on all sides: Don"t argue! The officer says: Don"t argue, drill! The tax collector: Don"t argue, pay! The pastor: Don"t argue, believe! Here we have restrictions on freedom everywhere. Which restriction is hampering enlightenment, and which does not, or even promotes it? I answer: The public use of a man"s reason must be free at all times, and this alone can bring enlightenment among men... The question may now be put: Do we live at present in an enlightened age? (45)______.A. All that is required for this enlightenment is freedom; and particularly the least harmful of that may be called freedom, namely, the freedom for man to make public use of his reason in all matters.B. Enlightenment is man"s leaving his self-caused immaturity. Immaturity is the incapacity to use one"s intelligence without the guidance of another. Such immaturity is self-caused if it is not caused by lack of intelligence, but by lack of determination and courage to use one"s intelligence without being guided by another. Have the courage to use your own intelligence! It is therefore the motto of the Enlightenment.C. The answer is: No, but in an age of enlightenment. Much still prevents men from being placed in a position to use their own minds securely and well in matters of religion. But we do have very definite indications that this field of endeavor is being opened up for men to work freely and reduce gradually the hindrances preventing a general enlightenment and an escape from self-caused immaturity.D. I call this soaring wealth and shrinking spirit "the American paradox." More than ever, we have big houses and broken homes, high incomes and low morale, secured rights and diminished civility. We excel at making a living but often fail at making a life. We celebrate our prosperity but yearn for purpose. We cherish our freedoms but long for connection. In an age of plenty, we feel spiritual hunger.E. A public can only arrive at enlightenment slowly.F. After having made their domestic animals dumb and having carefully prevented these quiet creatures from daring to take any step beyond the lead-strings to which they have fastened them, these guardians then show them the danger which threatens them, should they attempt to walk alone. Now this danger is not really so very great; for they would presumably learn to walk after some stumbling. However, an example of this kind intimidates and frightens people out of all further attempts.G. Attitudes about divorce have dramatically changed. In the past, it was seen as the last resort of a woman who had been beaten up or cheated on. Women were victims. Today many women choose to get divorced because they think they will have a better life as a SINDI than by staying in a stale marriage. In 74 percent of cases it is women who now instigate divorce proceedings.

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

Fenghua is one of your good friends and schoolmates. He has been addicted to smoking for a long time. During a lecture this week, you learned a lot about great dangers involved in heavy smoking, and now you decide to write a letter to him. Your letter should be based on the following outline. 1) your concern about his health, 2) and your advice and suggestions. Write your letter in no less than 100 words and write it neatly. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter, use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write the address.

TheCostofUrbanizationWriteanessayof160-200wordsbasedonthedrawing.Inyouressay,youshould1)describethedrawingbriefly,2)explainitsintendedmeaning,and3)giveyourcomments.

Write a composition on the topic: Should Women Go out to Work or Stay at Home? You should write about 160-200 words neatly.

Do animals have rights? This is how the question is usually put. It sounds like a useful, ground clearing way to start. (46) Actually, it isn"t, because it assumes that there is an agreed account of human rights, which is something the world does not have. On one view of rights, to be sure, it necessarily follows that animals have none. (47) Some philosophers argue that fights exist only within a social contract, as part of an exchange of duties and entitlements. Therefore, animals cannot have rights. The idea of punishing a tiger that kills somebody is absurd, for exactly the same reason, so is the idea that tigers have rights. However, this is only one account, and by no means an uncontested one. It denies rights not only to animals but also to some people for instance to infants, the mentally incapable and future generations. In addition, it is unclear what force a contract can have for people who never consented to it, how do you reply to somebody who says "I don"t like this contract"? The point is that: without agreement on the rights of people, arguing about the rights of animals is fruitless. (48) It leads the discussion to extremes at the outset: it invites you to think that animals should be treated either with the consideration humans extend to other humans, or with no consideration at all. This is a false choice. Better to start with another, more fundamental question: is the way we treat animals a moral issue at all? Many deny it. (49) Arguing from the view that humans are different from animals in every relevant respect, extremists of this kind think that animals lie outside the area of moral choice. Any regard for the suffering of animals is seen as a mistake—a sentimental displacement of feeling that should properly be directed to other humans. This view, which holds that torturing a monkey is morally equivalent to chopping wood, may seem bravely "logical". In fact it is simply shallow: the confused center is right to reject it. The most elementary form of moral reasoning—-the ethical equivalent of learning to crawl—is to weigh others" interests against one"s own. This in mm requires sympathy and imagination: without them there is no capacity for moral thought. To see an animal in pain is enough, for most, to engage sympathy. (50) When that happens, it is not a mistake: it is mankind"s instinct for moral reasoning in action, an instinct that should be encouraged rather than laughed at.

Over the past few decades, there has been a considerable increase in the use of mathematical analysis, both for solving everyday problems and for theoretical developments of many disciplines. For example, economics, biology, geography and medicine have all seen a considerable increase in the use of quantitative techniques. Twenty years ago applied mathematics meant the application of mathematics to problems in mechanics and little else—now, applied mathematics, or as many people prefer to call it, applicable mathematics, could refer to the use of mathematics in many varied areas. The one unifying theme that these applications have is that of mathematical modeling, by which we mean the construction of a mathematical model to describe the situation under study. This process of changing a real life problem into a mathematical one is not at all easy, we hasten to add, although one of the overall aims of this book is to improve your ability as a mathematical modeler. There have been many books written during the past decade on the topic of mathematical modeling; all these books have been devoted to explaining and developing mathematical models, but very little space has been given to how to construct mathematical models, that is, how to take a real problem and convert it into a mathematical one. Although we appreciate that we might not yet have the best methods for teaching how to tackle real problems, we do at least regard this mastery of model formulation as a crucial step, and much of this book is devoted to attempting to make you more proficient in this process. Our basic concept is that applied mathematicians become better modelers through more and more experience of tackling real problems. So in order to get the most out of this book, we stress that you must make a positive effort to tackle the many problems posed before looking at the solutions we have given. To help you to gain confidence in the art of modeling we have divided the book into four distinct sections. In the first section we describe three different examples of how mathematical analysis has been used to solve practical problems. These are all true accounts of how mathematical analysis has helped to provide solutions. We are not expecting you to do much at this stage, except to read through the case studies carefully, paying particular attention to the way in which the problems have been tackled—the process of translating the problem into a mathematical one.The second section consists of a series of real problems, together with possible solutions and related problems. Each problem has a clear statement, and we very much encourage you to try to solve these problems in the first place without looking at the solutions we have given. The problems require for solution different levels of mathematics, and you might find you have not yet covered some of the mathematical topics required. In general we have tried to order them, so that the level of mathematics required in the solutions increase as you move through the problems. Remember that we are only giving our solutions and, particularly if you don"t look at our solution, you might well have a completely different approach which might provide a better solution. Here, in the third section, we try to give you some advice as to how to approach the tackling of real problem solving, and we give some general concepts involved in mathematical modeling. It must, though, again be stressed that we are all convinced that experience is the all-important ingredient needed for confidence in model formulation. If you have just read Sections I and 11 without making at least attempts at your own solutions to some of the problems set, you will not have gained any real experience in tackling real problems, and this section will not really be of much help. On the other hand, if you have taken the problem solving seriously in Section Ⅱ, you might find the general advice given here helpful. Provided you have gained some confidence in tackling real problem solving in the earlier parts, you will be able to dabble with those problems in this section which appeal to you. Don"t feel you must work systematically through this section, but look for problems you want to solve—these are the ones that you will have most success in solving. We hope that this book will at least point you in this direction. We are aware that this is not a finalized precise sort of text, but then using mathematics in practical problem solving is not a precise art. It is full of pitfalls arid difficulties; but don"t despair, you will find great excitement and satisfaction when you have had your first success at real problem solving!

For 10 years I have been teaching animal behavior and conservation biology at the Boulder County Jail in Colorado. The course—part of the Jane Goodall Institute"s Roots & Shoots program—is one of the most popular in the jail. Prisoners have to earn the right to enroll and they work hard to get in. One reason the course is so popular is that many prisoners find it easier toconnect with animals than with people, because animals don"t judge them. Many of the prisoners had lived with dogs, cats and other companion animals who were their best friends. They trust and empathize with animals in ways they don"t with humans. Nonetheless, they retain a distorted view of how animals treat one another. The prisoners have often had enough of "nature red in tooth and claw": many lament that their own "animal behavior" is what got them into trouble in the first place. I teach that though there is competition and aggression in the animal kingdom, there is also a lot of cooperation, empathy, compassion and reciprocity. I explain that these behaviors are examples of "wild justice", and this idea makes them rethink what it means to be an animal. Many of the students yearn to build healthy relationships, and they find that the class helps them. I use examples of the social behavior of group-living animals such as wolves as a model for developing and maintaining friendships among individuals who must work together for their own good and also for the good of the group. It"s clear that science inspires the students: our exchanges rival those that I"ve had in university classes. It also gives them hope. I know some students have gone back into education after their release while others have gone to work for humane societies or contributed time and money to conservation organizations. One went on to receive a master"s degree in literature. Science and humane education help the prisoners connect with values that they otherwise would not have done. It opens the door to understanding, trust, cooperation, community and hope. There"s a large untapped population of individuals to whom science could mean a lot, if only they could get exposure to it. The class helps me, too. I get as much out of it as the students and it has made me a better teacher on the outside.

Of all the components of a good night"s sleep, dreams seem to be least within our control. In dreams, a window opens into a world where logic is suspended and dead people speak. A century ago, Freud formulated his revolutionary theory that dreams were the disguised shadows of our unconscious desires and fears; by the late 1970s, neurologists had switched to thinking of them as just "mental noise"—the random byproducts of the neural-repair work that goes on during sleep. Now researchers, suspect that dreams are part of the mind"s emotional thermostat, regulating moods while the brain is "off-line." And one leading authority says that these intensely powerful mental events can be not only harnessed but actually brought under conscious control, to help us sleep and feel better, "It"s your dream," says Rosalind Cartwright, chair of psychology at Chicago" s Medical Center. "If you don"t like it, change it." Evidence from brain imaging supports this view. The brain is as active during REM(rapid eye movement)sleep—when most vivid dreams occur—as it is when fully awake, says Dr. Eric Nofzinger at the University of Pittsburgh. But not all parts of the brain are equally involved; the limbic system(the "emotional brain")is especially active, while the prefrontal cortex(the center of intellect and reasoning)is relatively quiet. "We wake up from dreams happy or depressed, and those feelings can stay with us all day." says Stanford sleep researcher Dr. William Dement. The link between dreams and emotions shows up among the patients in Cartwright"s clinic. Most people seem to have more bad dreams early in the night, progressing toward happier ones before awakening, suggesting that they are working through negative feelings generated during the day. Because our conscious mind is occupied with daily life we don"t always think about the emotional significance of the day" s events—until, it appears, we begin to dream. And this process need not be left to the unconscious. Cartwright believes one can exercise conscious control over recurring bad dreams. As soon as you awaken, identify what is upsetting about the dream. Visualize how you would like it to end instead; the next time it occurs, try to wake up just enough to control its course. With much practice people can learn to, literally, do it in their sleep. At the end of the day, there"s probably little reason to pay attention to our dreams at all unless they keep us from sleeping or"we wake up in a panic," Cartwright says. Terrorism, economic uncertainties and general feelings of insecurity have increased people" s anxiety. Those suffering from persistent nightmares should seek help from a therapist. For the rest of us, the brain has its ways of working through bad feelings. Sleep—or rather dream—on it and you" 11 feel better in the morning.

Forget Iraq and budget deficits. The most serious political problem on both sides of the Atlantic is none of these. It is a difficulty that has dogged the ruling classes for millennia. It is the servant problem. In Britain David Blunkett, the home secretary, has resigned over an embarrassment (or one of many embarrassments, in a story involving his ex-girlfriend, her husband, two pregnancies and some DNA) concerning a visa for a Filipina nanny employed by his mistress. His office speeded it through for reasons unconnected to the national shortage of unskilled labour. Mr. Blunkett resigned ahead of a report by Sir Alan Budd, an economist who is investigating the matter at the government"s request. In America Bernard Kerik, the president"s nominee for the Department of Homeland Security, withdrew last week because he had carelessly employed a Mexican nanny whose Play-Doh skills were in better order than her paperwork. Mr. Kerik also remembered that he hadn"t paid her taxes. The nominee has one or two other "issues" (an arrest warrant in 1998, and allegations of dodgy business dealings and extra-marital affairs). But employing an illegal nanny would probably have been enough to undo him, as it has several other cabinet and judicial appointees in recent years. There is an easy answer to the servant problem—obvious to economists, if not to the less clear-sighted. Perhaps Sir Alan, a dismal scientist of impeccable rationality, will be thoughtful enough to point it out in his report. Parents are not the only people who have difficulty getting visas for workers. All employers face restrictive immigration policies which raise labour costs. Some may respond by trying to fiddle the immigration system, but most deal with the matter by exporting jobs. In the age of the global economy, the solution to the servant problem is simple: rather than importing the nanny, offshore the children.

On August 18th US News & World Report released its 2007 rankings of America"s top colleges. The survey began in 1983 as an unofficial opinion poll, when the magazine asked 662 college presidents to identify the country"s best places of learning. It has since changed into an annually frightening experience for reputable universities.A strong showing in the rankings spurs student interestand alumni giving while a slip has grave consequences for public relations. University administrators deeply dislike the survey. Many reject the idea that schools can be stacked up against one another in any meaningful way. And the survey"s methodology is suspect. The rankings are still based partly on peer evaluations. They compare rates of alumni giving, which has little to do with the transmission of knowledge. Besides, the magazine"s data are supplied by the schools and unproved. But whether the rankings are fair is beside the point, because they are wildly influential. In the 1983 survey barely half of the presidents approached bothered to respond. Today, only a handful dare refuse. Most, in fact, do more than simply fill out the survey. Competition between colleges for top students is increasing, partly because of the very popularity of rankings. Colin Diver, the president of Reed College in Oregon, considers that "rankings create powerful incentives to manipulate data and distort institutional behaviour."A school may game the system by luring applications from students who stand no chance of admission, or by leaning on alumni to arrange jobs for graduates. Reed is one of the few prominent colleges that dares to despise taking part in the US News survey. In some ways, the scramble to attract applicants has helped students. Universities such as Duke in North Carolina and Rice in Houston are devoting more money to scholarships. That seems a reasonable response to the challenge of the rankings, as the National Centre for Education Statistics reckons that roughly two-thirds of undergraduates rely on financial aid. Other colleges, though, are trying to drum up excitement by offering privileges that would have been unheard of a generation ago. Students at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) now appreciate weekly maid service in the dorms. "The elevators", replied an enthusiastic respondent to an online survey, "smell lemon fresh." Students at Pennsylvania State University enjoy free access to Napster, the music-sharing service. Multi-million dollar gyms have become so common that they are unremarkable. University officials, defending this strategy, often imply that they are only responding to student demand. Discouraging words for those who believe that a college"s job is to educate, not indulge.

HowtoMeasureanExcellentPerson?Writeanessayof160-200wordsbasedonthedrawing.Inyouressay,youshould1)describethedrawingbriefly,2)explainitsintendedmeaning,and3)giveyourcomments.

OfferingYourSeatWriteanessayof160-200wordsbasedonthedrawing.Inyouressay,youshould1)describethedrawingbriefly,2)explainitsintendedmeaning,and3)giveyourcomments.

One of the misconceptions about elite sport is that great athletes have nothing in common with normal human beings.【C1】______ they are seen as supermen who have【C2】______above the flaws and anxieties that【C3】______the lives of others. The superman misconception also【C4】______how we think about teams.【C5】______a team establishes a dynastic supremacy, instead of【C6】______that it is always in a state of constant change, we pretend it has a【C7】______collective personality. We turn the team into a superman. A winning team does not, in【C8】______, require everyone to play well all the time—or even any of the time. Sir Alex Ferguson【C9】______a deep truth when he said that in football you only need eight players to【C10】______well to win. The reality of team dynamics is much more【C11】______and interesting than superman theory allows. All teams, even the greatest,【C12】______a range of characters, not all of them【C13】______ bulletproof. There are those who surf the wave as well as those who【C14】______the tide. From a【C15】______perspective, the challenge is to establish two【C16】______but overlapping majorities: a majority of strong characters who have the ability to【C17】______people with them, and a majority of players in form on any【C18】______day. Seen in that light, winning becomes partly a matter of【C19】______. If you have a higher proportion of excellent players, who are likely to be in form more often, then the odds of eight playing well next Saturday【C20】______improve.

Two days ago, you witnessed a robbery case when you were dining in a fast-food restaurant. As an eye-witness of that case, now you write a brief account of the crime to a police officer. You writing should be based on the following outline. 1) specific description of the scene 2) and your reactions. Write your letter in no less than 100 words and write it neatly. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter, use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write the address.

For most of human history rich people had the most leisure. On the other hand, the poor have typically worked persistently. Hans-Joachim Voth, an economic historian, says that in 19th century you could tell how poor somebody was by how【C1】______they worked. Today things are【C2】______. Overall working hours have【C3】______over the past century. But the rich have begun to work longer hours than the poor. There are a number of【C4】______One is that higher wages make leisure more expensive: if people take time【C5】______they give up more money. Since the 1980s the【C6】______of those at the top have risen strongly, while those below the median have stood still or fallen. Thus rising【C7】______encourages the rich to work more and the poor to work less. The【C8】______of work and leisure in the rich world has also changed. Back in 1899 Thorstein Veblen offered his【C9】______on things. He argued that leisure was a "badge of honor". Rich people could get others to do the【C10】______, repetitive work. Yet Veblen's leisure class was not【C11】______. Rather they engaged in "exploit":【C12】______and creative activities such as writing, charity and【C13】______. Veblen's theory needs【C14】______. Work in advanced economies has become more【C15】______and intellectual. There are fewer really dull jobs, like lift-operating, and more【C16】______ones, like fashion design. That means more people than ever can enjoy "exploit" at the【C17】______. Work has come to offer the sort of pleasures that rich people used to【C18】______in their leisure time. On the other hand, leisure is【C19】______a sign of social power. Instead it【C20】______uselessness and unemployment.

With the Met Office predicting a summer heatwave, Macmillan Cancer Relief this week (1)_____ its customary warning about the sun"s ultraviolet rays: (2)_____, it says, for the huge rise in skin cancers affecting 70,000 people a year. (3)_____ a hat and long-sleeved shirt, it advises, keep in the (4)_____ in the middle of the day, and slap (5)_____ suncream with a protection factor of 15 or above. We all know it (6)_____; it"s the message that"s been drummed into us for the past 20 years. Too much sun (7)_____. But now there"s a fly in the suntan lotion, complicating the message"s clarity. It comes (8)_____ a thin, quietly-spoken and officially retired NASA scientist, Professor William Grant, who says that sun doesn"t kill; in {act, it does us the world of (9)_____. What"s killing us, he says, is our (10)_____ with protecting ourselves from skin cancer. Grant is trying to turn the scientific world (11)_____ down. Talking to me on a trip to Britain this week, he (12)_____ his startling—and at first appearance off-the-wall new calculation that (13)_____ excessive exposure to the sun is costing 1,600 deaths a year in the UK from melanoma skin cancers, (14)_____ exposure to the sun is the cause of 25,000 deaths a year from cancer generally. In other words, one sixth of all cancer deaths could be prevented (15)_____ we sunned ourselves a little more; in comparison, the melanoma (16)_____ is insignificant. The reason is vitamin D. Grant, the director of the Sunlight, Nutrition and Health Research Centre (SUNARC) he (17)_____ in California a year ago, says that he and other scientists have (18)_____ vitamin D deficiency as a key cause (19)_____ 17 different types of cancer including melanoma, osteoporosis, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and other neurological (20)_____.