What does the passage mainly talk about?

{{B}}Section A{{/B}} In this section, you will hear five short conversations. Each conversation will be read only once. At the end of each conversation, there will be a twenty-second pause. During the pause, read the question and the three choices marked A, B and C, and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on the answer sheet with a single line through the centre.

In this section, you will hear two long conversations. Each conversation will be read only once. At the end of each conversation, there will be a one-minute pause. During the pause, read the five questions, each with three choices marked A, B and C, and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on the answer sheet with a single line through the centre.{{B}}Conversation One{{/B}}

{{B}}Conversation Two{{/B}}

{{B}}Section A{{/B}} Translate the underlined sentences in the following passage into Chinese. Remember to write the answers on the answer sheet. On December 11, 2001, after 15 years of negotiations, the world's most populous country finally joined the world's most important trade body. Yet China's accession to the WTO, although hailed by some as signaling "a seismic shift in global marketing", should nudge perceptive observers to look beyond the rhetoric and focus on the actions that will be needed to prosper in China's complex market. Those who fail to do so will likely experience more pain than profit. Far from being a signal that foreign companies can sweep into China and establish market dominance, WTO accession marks the first milestone in what promises to be a long and potentially grueling contest between foreign and local brands. (81) {{U}}Foreign products were perceived to be inherently more desirable than local ones even if they were less affordable.{{/U}} But a growing brand savvy among Chinese enterprises is rapidly eroding this perception, making it harder for foreign companies to establish and maintain leadership in China. (82) {{U}}Foreign companies will also have to adjust to the realities of being guests in a country undergoing profound social and economic stress.{{/U}} For the first time, Chinese enterprises will face full-blown international competition and closer regulatory scrutiny from entities located outside their own borders. (83) {{U}}The huge tasks of restructuring state-owned enterprises and getting rid of the social welfare system of the past half century are certain to make the next 5 to 10 years difficult for many Chinese, no matter how smoothly the government manages the transition.{{/U}} China represents a potential goldmine for the ambitious marketer. (84) {{U}}In addition to having a large and growing number of middle-class consumers, it has shown a singular genius for weathering the financial and economic storms that have attacked other countries in Asia and throughout the industrialized world.{{/U}} Many foreign companies are thriving here. Starbucks, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and McDonald's dot the maps of China's major cities, while technology companies such as IBM, Nokia, and Motorola are among the most successful brands in their categories. The growth extends into the financial and professional services sectors as well. (85) {{U}}Yet foreign brands face a serious challenge in China, and for those who care to read them, the warning signs are already visible : strong local brands, Chinese nationalism and the readiness of local firms to compete according to the new rules of the game.{{/U}}

Directions: In this section, you will hear 10 short news items. After each item, there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the question and the three choices marked A, B and C, and decide which is the best answer.

In this section, you will hear five short news items. Each item will be read only once. After each item, there will be a pause. During the pause, read the question and the three choices marked A, B and C, and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on the answer sheet with a single line through the centre.

Directions: In this section, you will hear 10 short news items. After each item, there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the question and the three choices marked A, B and C, and decide which is the best answer.

[1] For some people it is extreme education: 10-hour days, contracts with parents and very strict rules on behaviour in small, 200-pupil academies. The result in a new type of school in the US is 100% acceptance to college, test results as good as those in private schools, and teenagers from New York's South Bronx district who play the viola like their neighbours in Manhattan. [2] James Verrilh, principal of the North Star Academy in Newark, America's second poorest city, said: "These kids know drugs. These kids know crime and violence. Their fathers are in jail. We have a school culture here which is very different from the attitude they have when they first walk through the door. It's a culture that tells them they can go to college. " [3] At the North Star Academy children like Charism and Queen-Area smile politely as they shake your hand and welcome you in. About 85% of pupils are African-American and 90% get free school meals. Last year 80% got"proficient or advanced" grades in maths, compared with just28% in the local neighbourhood school. This was above the state average. Pupils work in silence with a professionalism they have learned during a three-day process. From the beginning pupils are taught to speak clearly, answer questions in full sentences and look the teacher in the eye. [4] Parents have to sign a three-way contract with their child and the principal, and must promise to participate themselves. When a child's homework isn't handed in by 8 am, there is a phone call home. When the parent doesn't turn up for a meeting, their child is not allowed back into school until they turn up. There are signs saying" No excuses" on the walls. "I was working until 11 last night. I'm tired, but I know I've got to work,"says one 11-year-old, as she finishes up her homework over breakfast. "Even my mother"s gone back to school since I've been here. Pupils are tested every six weeks and their results are examined carefully. [5] "As a principal of a small school, I know how every child is progressing and how they are behaving," says Mr. Verrilli. He also sits in on classes himself, observing the students and writing notes for the teachers. [6] North Star and other small schools like it have developed from the charter school movement in the US. The 3,500 charter schools are independent schools, funded by the state, and allowed more freedom to set policies, including their admissions procedures. North Star runs a lottery for admissions and has 1,800 children on the waiting list. Parents have to put their child's name into the lottery; three times more girls apply than boys. [7] Mr. Verrilli strongly rejects the idea that his students might not be the ones most in need. "It's quite wrong to say that parents from disadvantaged backgrounds don't care about their kids'education. Ninety-five percent of parents just want a better education for their children. We're not taking the best kids. I'm defensive about that. It's something a lot of people say. How hard is it to put your child's name down on a piece of paperT"he said. [8] Every child who attends the Kipp (Knowledge is Power Programme) academy in South Bronx, New York, plays in its orchestra, the best school orchestra in New York. Every child can read music. Shirley Lee, a director of the Kipp academy in the Bronx, says the school works because there is a consistent structure throughout the school. "The truth and reality is that kids like structure, "she said. "It's about telling them what's appropriate and them learning when to use it. I wouldn't talk to you like I am now if I was out in some of these areas. But if we teach them to look in my eyes when I'm speaking to them, they will use that if they get stopped by the police and that will protect them. " [9] In the UK, there is a growing political debate about the differences in academic achievement between rich and poor in schools in big cities. A recent report highlighted the growing gap in achievement and the government is trying to deal with this problem. Three London academies are experimenting with small school principles and last week a group of British teachers in training visited the US looking for methods they could use to deal with the problems of" complex urban education". [10] Ark, a UK educational charity, is taking key components of the small school model into London academies. Lucy Heller, managing director of Ark, says: "It's small schools, strict rules on behaviour and a firm belief that inner city children can be just as successfull. "The UK schools minister says small schools can teach disadvantaged children the skills that middle class children take for granted: "High ambition, zero tolerance of failure, an expectation that children will go to university and that schools will give them the education to go to university. " [11] Ark is also helping to fund the 30" Future Leaders" group on the school leadership training scheme visiting the US. The trainees are expected to take some of the ideas they experience in the US back home to the UK. Many of them think it will be difficult to transfer the model to the UK, however. They talk about the fact that most of the US schools are middle schools, for 10-14-yearolds. The model has been tested less in the secondary school age group (11-18). They also ask where the money to fund smaller schools will come from, though others point out the fact that in the US facilities are basic. 'They don't even have interactive white boards. 'says one of the group's mentors. "They just teach. Small schools might not be practical in the UK, but what I really want these new school leaders to take back is the sense of culture in these schools. /

In this section, you will hear five short news items. After each item, which will be read only once, there will be a pause. During the pause, read the question and the three choices marked A, B and C, and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on the answer sheet with a single line through the centre.

Please list the three new ways to pay mentioned in the passage.

Directions: In this section, you will hear 10 short news items. After each item, there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the question and the three choices marked A, B and C, and decide which is the best answer.

{{B}}Interview Two{{/B}}

Ifasked,"Whatarehealthdecisions?",mostofuswouldanswerintermsofhospitals,doctorsandpills.Yetweareallmakingawholerangeofdecisionsaboutourhealthwhichgobeyondthislimitedarea;forexample,whetherornottosmoke,exercise,driveamotorbike,ordrinkalcoholreally.Thewayswereachdecisionsandformattitudesaboutourhealthareonlyjustbeginningtobeunderstood.Themainparadoxiswhypeopleconsistentlydothingswhichareknowntobeveryhazardous.Twogoodexamplesofthisaresmokingandnotwearingseatbelts.Boththeseexamplesunderlineelementsofhowpeoplereachdecisionsabouttheirhealth.Understandingthisprocessiscrucial.Wecanthenmoreeffectivelychangepublicattitudestohazardous,voluntaryactivitieslikesmoking.Smokersrundoubletheriskofcontractingheartdisease,severaltimestheriskofsufferingfromchronicbronchitisandatleast25timestheriskoflungcancer,ascomparedtonon-smokers.Despiteextensivepresscampaigns(especiallyinthepast20years),whichhaveregularlytoldsmokersandcardriversthegraveriskstheyarerunning,thenumberofsmokersandseatbeltnon-wearershasremainedmuchthesame.Althoughthenumberofdeathsfromroadaccidentsandsmokingarewellpublicised,theyhavearousedlittlepublicinterest.Ifwegivesmokerstherealfigures,willitaltertheirviewsonthedangersofsmoking?Unfortunatelynot.Manyofthe"realfigures"areintheformofprobabilisticestimates,andevidenceshowsthatpeopleareverybadatprocessingandunderstandingthiskindofinformation.Thekindofinformationthattendstobereliedonbothbythesmokerandseatbeltnon-wearerisanecdotal,basedonpersonalexperiences.AllsmokersseemtohaveanUncleBilloranAuntieMabelwhohasbeensmokingcigarettessincetheyweretwelve,livedto90,anddiedbecausetheyfelldownthestairs.Andiftheydon'thavesuchanauntoruncle,theyarecertaintohaveheardofsomeonewhohas.Similarly,manymotoristsseemtohaveheardofpeoplewhowouldhavebeenkillediftheyhadbeenwearingseatbelts.Relianceonthiskindofevidenceandnotbeingabletocopewith"probabilistic"dataformthetwomainfoundationstonesofpeople'sassessmentofrisk.Athirdisrelianceonpress-publiciseddangersandcausesofdeath.Americanpsychologistshaveshownthatpeopleoverestimatethefrequency(andthereforethedanger)ofthedramaticcausesofdeath(likeaeroplanecrashes)andunderestimatetheundramatic,unpublicisedkillers(likesmoking)whichactuallytakeagreatertolloflife.Whatisneededissomewayofchangingpeople'sevaluationsofandattitudestotherisksofcertainactivitieslikesmoking.Whatcanbedone?The"national"approachofgivingpeoplethe"factsandfigures"seemsineffective.Buttheevidenceshowsthatwhenpeoplearefrightened,theyaremorelikelytochangetheirestimatesofthedangersinvolvedinsmokingornotwearingseatbelts.Pressandtelevisioncandothisverycost-effectively.ProgrammeslikeDyingforaFag(aThamesTVprogramme)vividlyshowedthehealthhazardsofsmokingandmayhaveincreasedthechancesofpeoplestoppingsmokingpermanently.Soamass-mediaapproachmaywork.Butitneedstobecarefullycontrolled.Overall,thenewawarenessoftheproblemofhealthdecisionsandbehaviourisatleastamorehopefulsignforthefuture.Y(forYES)ifthestatementagreeswiththeinformationgiveninthepassage;N(forNO)ifthestatementcontradictstheinformationgiveninthepassage;NG(forNOTGIVEN)iftheinformationisnotgiveninthepassage.

Elaine Higgleton thinks that reading a dictionary is the best way to learn English.

{{B}}Section A{{/B}} Directions: In this section, you will hear 6 short conversations. At the end of each conversation, a question will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the question will be read only once. After each question, there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the three choices marked A, B and C, and decide which is the best answer.

In this section, you will hear two long conversations. Each conversation will be read only once. At the end of each conversation, there will be a one-minute pause. During the pause, read the five questions, each with three choices marked A, B and C, and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on the answer sheet with a single line through the centre.{{B}}Conversation One{{/B}}

Hiring a Car Online Online car hire promises to be cheap, quick and convenient. But is it? Nell McDougall revs up his Expeed. org. uk Book a flight with Expeed and when you continue on to the car-hire section, the software already knows where you are going and when. However, you seem to be restricted to cities with airports for your car hire, and additional taxes are presented in travel-agent speak. Cover. org A three-step process to rent cars in 70 countries. Very flash and slick, so much so that people with older computers may have trouble getting this information. Limited selection of online tourist attractions (but that's more than most give you ). Graphically complex but impressive booking system. Hot. org Straightforward to navigate, with plenty of information on rental requirements and rules of operation. There are photographs of the types of vehicles available, leaving no doubt what a "premium" or "compact" car is. It took me just seconds to start reserving a car but then the whole thing ground to a halt and refused all attempts to access the reservation system. Cutprice. com It is currently offering an aggressive lowest rates guarantee, an extra discount for former Holtravel clients and a package of free gifts to sweeten the deal. It also commits to no insurance excess on any of their rentals anywhere. Cash. com. uk One to consider if you're going to the States, although, after I'd worked through half the booking process, it returned an error message without telling me which element of the procedure needed adjusting. I got there in the end . There is an inspirational section with detailed directions for some of the great drives of America. Cheapandcheerful. net. uk Avoids unnecessary embellishments online but the booking procedure is as good as it gets. Enter how many miles you expect to drive and tick your insurance, driver and child seat choices and they will all be included in the final price. You must contact the location directly if you need a car within three days. And to hire a car abroad, there's a dull email form to fill in and they'll get back to you. Answer the following questions according to the passage.

The United Nations is ______ nations to live together in peace, though it is difficult.