{{B}}Part II Listening Comprehension{{/B}}

Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the damage of E-waste. You can give examples to illustrate your point. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.

团购是一种新型的购物方式，顾名思义就是指很多人一起购买同一产品，旨在加大与卖方的谈判能力以获得优惠的购买价格。随着中国电子商务的繁荣和发展，网络团购在中国网民中流行起来，已经成为团购的主要形式。它方便、快捷、价格低、不受地域限制。目前中国的很多网站都在尝试做团购，并迅速发展起来，如 聚划算 (Juhuasuan)、 糯米团 (Nuomituan)等。据了解，网络团购的主要群体是中国大中城市的年轻人。

Depression [A] In bed, you toss and turn, unable to get a good night's sleep. You feel anxious and worried. There's plenty to do, but the work piles up because you feel listless and tired. You don’t even want to do anything fun. Friends tell you to "pull yourself together," but you feel helpless and hopeless. You have difficulty concentrating and making decisions. When you look in the mirror, you hate yourself. You are definitely in one of life's valleys—you are depressed. Everyone gets the blues once in a while. Emotional lows and highs are a normal part of life. The blues become depression when you feel so sleepy and listless that you can't function normally in everyday life.[B] Depression occurs at all ages, although major depressive episodes peak between the ages of 55 and 70 in men and 20 and 45 in women. About half of those who experience an episode of major depression will have another within two years. For some people, episodes of depression are separated by several years, while others suffer groups of episodes over a short time span. Between episodes, such individuals feel well.[C] Major depressive disorder affects approximately 14.8 million American adults—tar 6.7 percent of the U.S. population aged 18 years and older—in a given year. Major depressive disorder is more common in women than in men. Although treatment can help more than 80 percent of people with severe depression, most people with depression do not seek treatment Depression can range from a mild panic to self-destructive or suicidal behavior. It's important to understand the various types of depression so that you can recognize them.[D] Reactive depression. This type of depression is a reaction to stressful events—divorce, death of a loved one, a chronic illness, a personal tragedy, or even social isolation, which the elderly frequently experience. The person is unable to recover normally from the feelings associated with the event Common feelings include self-pity, pessimism, and loss of interest in life. It affects people of all ages.[E] Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). If you live in the northern latitudes and suffer depression during the winter months, you may suffer from seasonal affective disorder caused by a lack of exposure to sunlight. Doctors aren't sure exactly what physiological mechanisms are at work in SAD, but they speculate that depressed feelings and other symptoms may be due to an increase in the release of the hormone melatonin. SAD sufferers feel lethargic and irritable. They may also suffer from chronic headaches, increased appetite, weight gain, and an increased need for sleep. For unknown reasons, SAD is truly a "woman's depression," in that women make up 70 percent to 80 percent of those affected. Since about half of all SAD sufferers have relatives who also suffer from SAD or other emotional problems, researchers speculate that the problem may be inherited [F] Biochemical depression. Doctors aren't sure why, but some people develop a biochemically based depression sometime during midlife. It's likely that this type of depression is caused by biochemical problems within the brain. The problem usually responds well to antidepressant medication. You may be more likely to develop this type of chemical depression if other members of your family have also suffered from this problem.[G] Disease or drug-related depression. Some diseases such as AIDS, stroke, chronic pain, and hypothyroidism (甲状腺功能减退) can cause depression. In hypothyroidism, the thyroid gland (甲状腺) malfunctions, leading to too little or no thyroid hormone circulating in the bloodstream. In addition to depression, other symptoms of hypothyroidism include fatigue, weakness, weight gain, impaired memory, and shortness of breath. Fortunately, the depression and other symptoms of hypothyroidism can be effectively treated with adequate doses of thyroid hormone.[H] Certain drugs such as alcohol, tranquilizers (镇定剂), and heart and blood pressure medications, as well as withdrawal from some street drugs like cocaine, can cause drug-related depression. Some women who take birth control pills find the drugs make them irritable, anxious, and depressed. And a deficiency in some nutrients has been linked to depression.[I] Teenage depression. Recognizing depression in children is important. Depression in teenagers may appear somewhat different from adult depression. The teenage years are a period of complicated conflicts that lead many young people to develop negative self-esteem, anxieties, and fears about their future. Some young people become overwhelmed by peer pressures and feelings of isolation and powerlessness. Social expectations may be unrealistic, and doing poorly in school can lead to a feeling of rejection. The young person may have experienced a lack of support from family and other significant people and a decrease in his or her ability to cope effectively. (As is the case for adults, treatment for depression in teenagers may involve a combination of therapies.)[J] Depression may be related to many factors, including a family history of depression, medical illnesses, alcohol, drugs, gender, and age. Additionally, an individual's self-confidence, personality traits—such as dependency on others or perfectionism—and unrealistic expectations may lead to depression. Stressful events, such as death of a spouse or loss of a job, also contribute to depression. Many people with major depression also suffer from intense anxiety.[K] There are many theories about the causes of depression. The social learning theory suggests that lack of positive reinforcement from others may lead to negative self-evaluation and a poor outlook for the future. The psychoanalytic theory suggests that a significant loss (such as of a parent) or a withdrawal of affection in childhood (whether real or perceived) may lead to depression in later life. Interpersonal theory emphasizes the importance of social connections for good mental health. Other theories suggest that unrealistic expectations of oneself and others and loss of self-esteem are essential components leading to depression.[L] Some individuals may be biologically predisposed to depression; in other words, they may have been born with a tendency to develop depression. Researchers continue to investigate chemical reactions in the body that are controlled by these genes. Depression often runs in families. For example, if one identical twin suffers from depression, the other twin has a 70 percent chance of also having the illness.[M] Environmental Influences. Researchers view depression as the result of interaction between environmental and biological factors. Depression can be endogenous (internally caused) or exogenous (related to outside events). Major changes in one's environment, such as a move or job change, or any major loss, such as a divorce or death of a loved one, can bring on depression. Some environmental factors relating to depression include being unemployed, poor, elderly, or alone. Depression changes one's way of looking at ordinary life circumstances. A depressed person tends to exaggerate negative aspects, which leads to feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, and being overwhelmed.[N] How do you recognize symptoms of depression in yourself and others? People who suffer from depression have a number of symptoms nearly every day, all day, for at least two weeks. Depressed people have feelings of extreme sadness, hopelessness, despair, low self-worth, and helplessness. For some people, depression is marked by anxiety, withdrawal from others, loss of sleep or excessive need for sleep, constant fatigue, loss of appetite or compulsive eating, loss of sexual desire, either lethargy or agitation, an inability to concentrate and make decisions, and possibly exaggerated feelings of guilt.[O] Many depressed individuals have mental and physical symptoms that seem endless and do not get better with happy events or good news. Some depressed people are so disabled by their condition that they don't have enough energy to call a friend, relative, or medical professional for help. If another person calls for them, these people may refuse to go because they have no hope that they can be helped. However, family and friends should keep trying to get the depressed person to seek help, because up to 15 percent of those who suffer from severe clinical depression commit suicide.

The History of Chinese Americans [A]Chinese have been in the United States for almost two hundred years. In fact, the Chinese had business relations with Hawaii prior to relations with the mainland when Hawaii was not yet part of the United States. But United States investments controlled the capital of Hawaii at that time. In 1788, a ship sailed from Guangzhou to Hawaii. Most of the crewmen were Chinese. They were considered the pioneers of Hawaii. The Immigration Commission reported that the first Chinese arrived in the United States in 1820, eight in 1830 and seven hundred and eighty in 1850. The Chinese population gradually increased and reached 64,199 in 1870. [B]For many years it was common in the United States to associate Chinese Americans with restaurants and laundries. People did not realize that the Chinese had been driven into these occupations by the prejudice and discrimination that faced them in this country. [C]The first Chinese to reach the mainland United States came during the California Gold Rush of 1849. Like most of the other people there, they had come to search for gold. In that largely unoccupied land, the men staked a claim for themselves by placing markers in the ground. However, either because the Chinese were so different from the others or because they worked so patiently that they sometimes succeeded in turning a seemingly worthless mining claim into a profitable one, they became the scapegoats of their envious competitors. They were harassed in many ways. Often they were prevented from working their claims; some localities even passed regulations forbidding them to own claims. [D]The Chinese therefore started to seek out other ways of earning a living. Some of them began to do the laundry for the white miners; others set up small restaurants.(There were almost no women in California in those days, and the Chinese filled a real need by doing this "woman's work".)Some went to work as farmhands or as fishermen. [E]In the early 1860's many more Chinese arrived in California. This time the men were imported as work crews to construct the first transcontinental railroad. They were sorely needed because the work was so strenuous and dangerous, and it was carried on in such a remote part of the country that the railroad company could not find other laborers for the job. As in the case of their predecessors, these Chinese were almost all males; and like them, too, they encountered a great deal of prejudice. [F]The hostility grew especially strong after the railroad project was complete, and the imported laborers returned to California—thousands of them, all out of work. Because there were so many more of them this time, these Chinese drew even more attention than the earlier group did. They were so very different in every respect: in their physical appearance, including a long "pigtail" at the back of their otherwise shaved heads; in the strange, non-Western clothes they wore; in their speech(few had learned English since they planned to go back to China); and in their religion. They were contemptuously called "heathen Chinese" because there were many sacred images in their houses of worship. [G]When times were hard, they were blamed for working for lower wages and taking jobs away from white men, who were in many cases recent immigrants themselves. Anti-Chinese riots broke out in several cities, culminating in arson and bloodshed. Chinese were barred from using the courts and also from becoming American citizens. Californians began to demand that no more Chinese be permitted to enter their state. Finally, in 1882, they persuaded Congress to pass the Chinese Exclusion Act, which stopped the immigration of Chinese laborers. Many Chinese returned to their homeland, and their numbers declined sharply in the early part of this century. [H]However, during the World War n, when China was an ally of the United States, the Exclusion laws were ended; a small number of Chinese were allowed to immigrate each year, and Chinese could become American citizens. In 1965, in a general revision of our immigration laws, many more Chinese were permitted to settle here, as discrimination against Asian immigration was abolished. [I]From the start, the Chinese had lived apart in their own separate neighborhoods, which came to be known as "Chinatowns". In each of them the residents organized an unofficial government to make rules for the community and to settle disputes. Unable to find jobs on the outside, many went into business for themselves—primarily to serve their own neighborhood. As for laundries and restaurants, some of them soon spread to other parts of the city, since such services continued to be in demand among non-Chinese, too. To this day, certain Chinatowns, especially those of San Francisco and New York, are busy, thriving communities, which have become great attractions for tourists and for those who enjoy Chinese food. [J]Most of today's Chinese Americans are the descendants of some of the early miners and railroad workers. Those immigrants had come from the vicinity of Canton in Southeast China, where they had been uneducated farm laborers. The same kind of young men, from the same area and from similar humble origins, migrated to Hawaii in those days. There they fared far better, mainly because they did not encounter hostility. Some married native Hawaiians, and other brought their wives and children over. They were not restricted to Chinatown and many of them soon became successful merchants and active participants in general community affairs. [K]Chinese Americans retain many aspects of their ancient culture, even after having lived here for several generations. For Example, their family ties continue to be remarkably strong(encompassing grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and others). Members of the family lend each other moral support and also practical help when necessary. From a very young age children are imbued with the old values and attitudes, including respect for their elders and a feeling of responsibility to the family. This helps to explain why there is so little juvenile delinquency(少年犯罪)among them. [L]The high regard for education which is deeply imbedded in Chinese culture, and the willingness to work very hard to gain advancement, are other noteworthy characteristics of theirs. This explains why so many descendants of uneducated laborers have succeeded in becoming doctors, lawyers, and other professionals.(Many of the most outstanding Chinese American scholars, scientists, and artists are more recent arrivals, who come from China's former upper class and who represent its high cultural traditions.) [M]Chinese Americans make up only a tiny fraction of our population; there are fewer than half a million, living chiefly in California, New York, and Hawaii. As American attitudes toward minorities and toward ethnic differences have changed in recent years, the long-reviled Chinese have gained wide acceptance. Today, they are generally admired for their many remarkable characteristics, and are often held up as an example worth following. And their numerous contributions to their adopted land are much appreciated.

BPart Ⅳ Translation/B

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Baby Boomers Are Killing Themselves at an Alarming Rate [A]It has long held true that elderly people have higher suicide rates than the overall population. But numbers released in May by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show a dramatic rise in suicides among middle-aged people, with the highest increases among men in their 50s, whose rate went up by nearly 50 percent to 30 per 100,000; and women in their early 60s, whose rate rose by nearly 60 percent(though it is still relatively low compared with men, at 7 in 100,000). This is an alarming trend among baby boomers. [B]There are no large-scale studies yet figuring out the reasons behind the increase in baby boomer suicides. Part of it is likely tied to the recent economic downturn. But the trend started a decade before the 2008 recession, and psychologists and academics say it likely stems from a complex series of issues. [C]"We've been a pretty youth-oriented generation," said Bob Knight, professor of gerontology(老人医学)and psychology at the University of Southern California, who is also a baby boomer. "We haven't idealized growing up and getting mature in the same way that age groups have." Even as they become grandparents and deal with normal signs of getting old, such as hearing and vision losses, many boomers are reluctant to accept the realities of aging, Knight said. To those growing up in the 1950s and '60s, America seemed to promise a limitless array of possibilities. The Great Depression and World War II were over, medical innovations such as the polio vaccine(脊髓灰质炎疫苗)and antibiotics(抗生素)appeared to wipe out disease and disability; the birth-control pill sparked a sexual revolution. The economy was thriving, and as they came of age, boomers embraced new ways of living—as civil rights activists, as hippies, as feminists, as war protesters. [D]"There was a sense of rebelliousness, of 'I don't want to live the way my parents did or their parents did,'" said Patrick Arbore, director and founder of the Center for Elderly Suicide Prevention at San Francisco's Institute on Aging. "There was a lot of movement to different parts of the country. With that came a lot of freedom, but there also came a loss of connections. It was not uncommon to see people married three or four times." [E]How did a generation that started out with so much going for it end up so desperate in midlife? It could be that those very advantages made it harder to cope with setbacks, said Barry Jacobs, director of behavioral sciences at the Crozer-Keystone Family Medicine Residency Program in Pennsylvania. "There was an illusion of choice—where people thought they'd be able to re-create themselves again and again," he said. "These people feel a greater sense of disappointment because their expectations of leading glorious lives didn't come to realization." [F]Instead, compared with their parents' generation, boomers have higher rates of weight problems, prescription and illegal drug abuse, alcoholism, divorce, depression and mental disorders. As they age, many add to that list of chronic illness, disabilities and the strains of caring for their parents and for adult children who still depend on them financially. [G]Perhaps a little more adversity in youth could have helped prepare them for the inevitable indignities of aging, Knight suggested, adding that "the earlier-born are sort of tougher in the face of stress." Despite the hardships of life in the first half of the 20th century, he said, older generations didn't have the same kind of concept of being stressed out. [H]Older generations also had clearer milestones for success. "They won the Great War, they saved the world," said David Jobes, a professor of psychology at Catholic University and a clinician at the Washington Psychological Center in Friendship Heights. [I]Baby boomers, on the other hand, have struggled more with existential questions of purpose and meaning. Growing up in a post-Freudian society, they were raised with a new vocabulary of emotional awareness and an emphasis on self-actualization. But that did not necessarily translate into an increased ability to cope with difficult emotions—especially among men. Women tend to be better connected socially and share their feelings more freely—protective factors when looking at their risk for suicide. And African Americans and Hispanics tend to have lower rates of suicide than whites, possibly because of stronger community connections, or because of different expectations. [J]Combine high expectations with a weaker economy, and the risk goes up. "We know that what men want to do is work—that's a very strong ethic for them," Arbore said. "When their jobs are being threatened, they see themselves as still needing to be in that role; they feel ashamed when they're not able to find another job. The idea that so many of us in this country have been brought up with—that you work hard, you get your house, you get your American dream, everything is sunny—hasn't worked out. A lot of these boomers aren't going to earn as much money as their parents did. They aren't going to be as secure as their parents were. And that's quite troubling for the boomers." [K]Mike Murray of Rising Sun, Md., struggled with major depression for most of his adult years, even as he married, raised two children and owned a successful grass-mowing business. His wife, Becky Murray, who ran the business with him, describes him as a perfectionist. "He always did well in school, he was a straight-A student; anything he did, he did well," she said. [L]But in 2004 a back injury forced him to go on disability—and on powerful pain medications. In 2010 he made two attempts to overdose, and in early 2011, two days after his 49th birthday, he killed himself with a shotgun. "He was handsome, he was smart, people loved him," Murray said, but added that he felt increasingly depressed. And while he was grateful for his disability checks, she said, "It was very hard for him to accept this and to not contribute to his family." [M]Nor are women immune. When Liz Strand's 53-year-old friend killed herself two years ago in California, her house was underwater and needed repairs, she had a painful ankle that was made worse by being overweight, and although she had tried to find a partner, she was unmarried, like one-third of baby boomers. [N]"When everything started exploding on her it was too much for her," Strand said, adding that as a boomer she herself recalls the shock of realizing that the good times were not eternal. "I just thought everything was going to continue to improve. I remember hearing at one point in a college class that, 'No, it's a pendulum.' It was a real wake-up call." [O]What makes boomers' anxiety worse is a sense that the world is more hazardous than when they were young, Arbore said. Then, the atom bombs seemed large, but they were distant and abstract; attacks like the ones on the World Trade Center and the Boston Marathon have changed the pattern. "These events used to happen 6,000 miles away; now they happen here," He said. [P]It is unclear whether younger generations will follow or resist the boomer trend as they age, or if boomers will continue to kill themselves at such high rates as they move into retirement.

兵马俑 (the Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses)是秦始皇 陵墓 (mausoleum)的一部分，也是20世纪世界 考古 (archaeological)史上最伟大的发现之一。兵马俑是秦始皇为了死后能继续统治王国而建造的，在1974年被西安当地的农民发现。真人一样大小的兵俑按战斗队形排列，依据不同的等级，他们的身高、制服和发型都不相同。他们生动、逼真的形象，显示了工匠们极高的雕刻水平。兵马俑是世界上最大的地下军事博物馆，于1987年被列入世界文化遗产，并被誉为“世界第八大奇迹”。

For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay on celebration of western festivals. Your essay should focus on the reasons for Chinese enjoying western festivals. You are required to write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.

How to Duck Cabin Fevers and Other Aches on a Plane?[A] On the first leg of this season's holiday travel tour, I had the delightful experience of watching my 20-month-old touch nearly every surface on our airplane, from numerous armrests and people we passed in the aisle to our fingerprint-stained window. As a somewhat uncontrollable germaphobe (洁癖), it took everything I had not to dip my son in hand sanitizer (消毒剂) and then physically restrain him. But I was flying alone with two children and he was happy eating those snacks off the floor, and so, for the sake of my fellow passengers, I let him handle pretty much anything he wanted. Hence, I wasn't surprised when his nose started running shortly after we arrived at our destination, followed by the inevitable cough, which his older brother also picked up. Our "vacation" ended at a CVS Minute Clinic, with ear infections for both kids.[B] Coming down with a cold, cough or other illness after air travel is a common refrain, even from adults who don't try to lick the seatback tray table. But is the plane really to blame? Not particularly, says aviation medicine specialist Mark Gendreau, vice chair of emergency medicine at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Mass. "You do have a higher risk of contracting a viral infection while traveling, but you have to remember that it's really the door-to-door experience that's exposing you to germs: the crowds on the subway to the airport, the escalator, the security line, getting on and off the aircraft," he explains. "It's almost impossible to say where, exactly, you get sick."[C] In fact, experts point out that the environment of a plane is probably less risky, health-wise, than many other crowded, confined spaces. Given airliners' improved ventilation systems, germs aren't being constantly circulated through the plane, stresses Gendreau. Instead, he says, you are most likely to pick up a bug from close contact with a sick person or by touching a surface that's been coughed or sneezed on or otherwise contaminated, such as an armrest or an overhead bin lock.[D] Studies have shown that the highest risk of germ transmission on a plane, by far, comes from those around you, particularly those seated within two rows, says Michael Zimririg, director of the Center for Healthy Travel at the Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. "The closer the proximity and the longer the time you're confined with someone in a closed compartment—and usually it's at least a couple of hours—the better the chance of catching a cold," he says.[E] Research published last May in the journal BMJ studied a packed, long-haul 747 flight from Los Angeles to New Zealand that had at least nine passengers who were later confirmed to have swine flu. Researchers found that the three additional travelers who appeared to have contracted the virus on the flight were all sitting within two rows of an infected person; that put the chance of transmission at 3.5 percent within two rows and roughly 1.9 percent for anyone in the same section of the plane.[F] "There's no doubt that planes are pretty germy," says Charles Gerba, a professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona who studies how diseases are transmitted in indoor environments. "There is no requirement or regulation for the cleaning and disinfection of airplanes—it's up to individual airlines—and it just doesn't get done regularly," he said. The dirtiest spot on board? By far, the restrooms, according to Gerba, who says that in the course of his research, he has identified E. coli bacteria on almost every toilet surface, with the worst offenders being sink handles and faucets, soap dispensers and door handles.[G] Of course, just because such germs are there doesn't mean they're a problem. "There is definitely an unpleasant factor, but it's one thing to say there's a virus or bacteria on a surface, and another thing for that to make you sick," says Katherine Andms, assistant general counsel for the Air Transport Association, a trade group representing major U.S. airlines. "Most of us, if we're relatively healthy and have good immune systems, don't have to worry that much about all of the surfaces in the world that may be contaminated." She adds that frequent, proper hand washing goes a long way toward preventing illness in any crowded environment.[H] There are several other steps you can take. Zimring, author of "Healthy Travel: Don't Travel Without It," says it's important get enough sleep, eat healthfully, exercise and get a flu shot to build up immunity before traveling. Gendreau suggests the following to stay healthy while flying:[I] Drink up. Proper hydration (水合作用) is critical to optimal immune function. Given that the relative humidity in a passenger cabin can be as low as 10 percent on long flights, it's essential to drink as much water while in the air as possible; avoiding alcohol will help, too. Staying well hydrated can also help prevent mild altitude sickness, with symptoms such as headache, lightheadedness and nausea (恶心 ) which people often mistake for a post-flight cold or flu.[J] Pack a hand sanitizer. Soap and water do a great job, but the restroom's sink handle, soap dispenser and doorknobs may be contaminated with germs. So use alcohol-based sanitizer after leaving the restroom and throughout the rest of your flight. And think twice before you rub, scratch or otherwise pat your face during a flight; those simple acts can provide ample opportunity for the transmission of bacteria and viruses.[K] Be wary about that tray. Air carriers with flight turnover times of less than an hour do not routinely disinfect the trays or other surfaces such as the armrests and windows. So wipe them down with an alcohol-based sanitizer when you first take your seat.[L] Keep the air turned on at your seat. When people cough, sneeze or speak, they eject up to 30,000 droplets, which can travel several feet. To minimize the chance of infected droplets landing on you, turn your air vent to medium flow and position it so that the air current is directed just slightly in front of your face. That will help direct germs away from your eyes, nose and mouth.[M] As for me, I think I will run with my germaphobic tendencies from now on, forbidding floor snacks, using a great amount of sanitizer on both my children and wiping down our immediate surroundings as soon as we board. The travel might not be happier—for me or for my fellow passengers—but if it's even slightly more healthful, I think it's worth it.

北斗卫星导航系统 (Bei Dou Navigation Satellite System)是中国自主开发的全球卫星导航系统。该系统的投入运行使中国成为继美国和俄罗斯之后第三个拥有自己的卫星导航系统的国家。该系统具有导航、定位和 援时 (timing)的功能，已经成功应用于 测绘 (surveying and mapping)、电信、渔业、交通运输、森林防火、减灾救灾和国家安全等领域。北斗卫星导航系统的应用产生了显著的经济和社会效益，在北京奥运会中发挥了非常重要的作用。目前该系统已经提供了覆盖亚太地区的服务。

五四运动 (the May Fourth Movement)是1919年5月4日发生的一场 反帝反封建 (anti—imperialist，anti-feudal)的政治文化运动。这次运动以北京为中心，很快扩大到上海、天津、青岛等许多城市。五四运动是以青年学生为主力，市民、商人和工人等广泛参与的一次爱国运动。他们通过示威游行、罢工等各种活动来抗议软弱的政府，要求恢复国家 主权 (sovereignty)。五四运动对中国的政治、文化、教育，以及 中国共产党 (the Communist Party of China)的发展有着重要的作用。为了纪念这次运动，中华人民共和国成立后正式宣布5月4日为 中国青年节 (the Chinese Youth Day)。

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BSection A/B

BPart I Writing/B

The Price of Oil and the Price of Carbon[A] Fossil fuel prices are likely to stay "low for long". Notwithstanding important recent progress in developing renewable fuel sources, low fossil fuel prices could discourage further innovation in, and adoption of, cleaner energy technologies. The result would be higher emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.[B] Policymakers should not allow low energy prices to derail the clean energy transition. Action to restore appropriate price incentives, notably through corrective carbon pricing, is urgently needed to lower the risk of irreversible and potentially devastating effects of climate change. That approach also offers fiscal benefits.[C] Oil prices have dropped by over 60% since June 2014. A commonly held view in the oil industry is that "the best cure for low oil prices is low oil prices". The reasoning behind this saying is that low oil prices discourage investment in new production capacity, eventually shifting the oil supply curve backward and bringing prices back up as existing oil fields—which can be tapped at relatively low marginal cost—are depleted. In fact, in line with past experience, capital expenditure in the oil sector has dropped sharply in many producing countries, including the United States. The dynamic adjustment to low oil prices may, however, be different this time around.[D] Oil prices are expected to remain lower for longer. The advent of new technologies has added about 4.2 million barrels per day to the crude oil market, contributing to a global over-supply. In addition, other factors are putting downward pressure on oil prices: change in the strategic behavior of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the projected increase in Iranian exports, the scaling-down of global demand ( especially from emerging markets) , the long-term drop in petroleum consumption in the United States, and some displacement of oil by substitutes. These likely persistent forces, like the growth of shale (页岩) oil, point to a low for long" scenario. Futures markets, which show only a modest recovery of prices to around $60 a barrel by 2019, support this view.[E] Natural gas and coal—also fossil fuels—have similarly seen price declines that look to be long-lived. Coal and natural gas are mainly used for electricity generation, whereas oil is used mostly to power transportation, yet the prices of all these energy sources are linked. The North American shale gas boom has resulted in record low prices there. The recent discovery of the giant Zohr gas field off the Egyptian coast will eventually have impact on pricing in the Mediterranean region and Europe, and there is significant development potential in many other places, notably Argentina. Coal prices also are low, owing to over-supply and the scaling-down of demand, especially from China, which burns half of the world's coal.[F] Technological innovations have unleashed the power of renewables such as wind, hydro, solar, and geothermal (地热). Even Africa and the Middle East, home to economies that are heavily dependent on fossil fuel exports, have enormous potential to develop renewables. For example, the United Arab Emirates has endorsed an ambitious target to draw 24% of its primary energy consumption from renewable sources by 2021.[G] Progress in the development of renewables could be fragile, however, if fossil fuel prices remain low for long. Renewables account for only a small share of global primary energy consumption, which is still dominated by fossil fuels—30% each for coal and oil, 25% for natural gas. But renewable energy will have to displace fossil fuels to a much greater extent in the future to avoid unacceptable climate risks.[H] Unfortunately, the current low prices for oil, gas, and coal may provide little incentive for research to find even cheaper substitutes for those fuels. There is strong evidence that both innovation and adoption of cleaner technology are strongly encouraged by higher fossil fuel prices. The same is true for new technologies for alleviating fossil fuel emissions.[I] The current low fossil fuel price environment will thus certainly delay the energy transition from fossil fuel to clean energy sources. Unless renewables become cheap enough that substantial carbon deposits are left underground for a very long time, if not forever, the planet will likely be exposed to potentially catastrophic climate risks.[J] Some climate impacts may already be discernible. For example, the United Nations Children's Fund estimates that some 11 million children in Africa face hunger, disease, and water shortages as a result of the strongest El Nifio (尼尔尼诺) weather phenomenon in decades. Many scientists believe that El Nifio events, caused by warming in the Pacific, are becoming more intense as a result of climate change.[K] Nations from around the world have gathered in Paris for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21, with the goal of a universal and potentially legally-binding agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We need very broad participation to fully address the global tragedy that results when countries fail to take into account the negative impact of their carbon emissions on the rest of the world. Moreover, non-participation by nations, if sufficiently widespread, can undermine the political will of participating countries to act.[L] The nations participating at COP 21 are focusing on quantitative emissions-reduction commitments. Economic reasoning shows that the least expensive way for each country is to put a price on carbon emissions. The reason is that when carbon is priced, those emissions reductions that are least costly to implement will happen first. The International Monetary Fund calculates that countries can generate substantial fiscal revenues by eliminating fossil fuel subsidies and levying carbon charges that capture the domestic damage caused by emissions. A tax on upstream carbon sources is one easy way to put a price on carbon emissions, although some countries may wish to use other methods, such as emissions trading schemes. In order to maximize global welfare, every country's carbon pricing should reflect not only the purely domestic damage from emissions, but also the damage to foreign countries.[M] Setting the right carbon price will therefore efficiently align the costs paid by carbon users with the true social opportunity cost of using carbon. By raising relative demand for clean energy sources, a carbon price would also help align the market return to clean-energy innovation with its social return, spurring the refinement of existing technologies and the development of new ones. And it would raise the demand for technologies such as carbon capture and storage, spurring their further development. If not corrected by the appropriate carbon price, low fossil fuel prices are not accurately signaling to markets the true social profitability of clean energy. While alternative estimates of the damage from carbon emissions differ, and it's especially hard to reckon the likely costs of possible catastrophic climate events, most estimates suggest substantial negative effects.[N] Direct subsidies to research and development have been adopted by some governments but are a poor substitute for a carbon price: they do only part of the job, leaving in place market incentives to over-use fossil fuels and thereby add to the stock of atmospheric greenhouse gases without regard to the collateral (附带的) costs. [O] The hope is that the success of COP 21 opens the door to future international agreement on carbon prices. Agreement on an international carbon-price floor would be a good starting point in that process. Failure to address comprehensively the problem of greenhouse gas emissions, however, exposes all generations, present and future, to incalculable risks.

Ask most people how they define the American Dream and chances are they'll say, "Success." The dream of individual opportunity has been at home in American since Europeans discovered a "new world" in the Western Hemisphere. Early immigrants like Hector St. Jean de Crevecoeur praised highly the freedom and opportunity to be found in this new land. His glowing descriptions of a classless society where anyone could attain success through honesty and hard work fired the imaginations of many European readers: in Letters from an American Farmer(1782)he wrote, "We are all excited at the spirit of an industry which is unfettered(无拘无束的)and unrestrained, because each person works for himself... We have no princes, for whom we toil(干苦力活), starve, and bleed: we are the most perfect society now existing in the world." The promise of a land where "the rewards of a man's industry follow with equal steps the progress of his labor" drew poor immigrants from Europe and fueled national expansion into the western territories. Our national mythology(神话)is full of illustrations of the American success story. There's Benjamin Franklin, the very model of the self-educated, self-made man, who rose from modest origins to become a well-known scientist, philosopher, and statesman. In the nineteenth century, Horatio Alger, a writer of fiction for young boys, became American's best-selling author with rags-to-riches tales. The notion of success haunts us: we spend millions every year reading about the rich and famous, learning how to "make a fortune in real estate with no money down," and "dressing for success." The myth of success has even invaded our personal relationships: today it's as important to be "successful" in marriage or parenthood as it is to come out on top in business. But dreams easily turn into nightmares. Every American who hopes to "make it" also knows the fear of failure, because the myth of success inevitably implies comparison between the haves and the have-nots, the stars and the anonymous crowd. Under pressure of the myth, we become indulged in status symbols: we try to live in the "right" neighborhoods, wear the "right" clothes, eat the "right" foods. These symbols of distinction assure us and others that we believe strongly in the fundamental equality of all, yet strive as hard as we can to separate ourselves from our fellow citizens.

{{B}}Part II Listening Comprehension{{/B}}

户外广告是现代城市景观中不可或缺的部分，反映着城市的繁荣程度，文化特色和品位。企业热切地希望通过户外广告不断提升形象，传播商业信息。各级政府也希望通过它树立城市形象， 美化 (beautify)城市。户外广告将会有广阔的市场，同时也对其提出了更高的要求。随着现代科学技术的迅猛发展，户外广告开始采用新材料、新技术、新设备。户外LED媒体是一种能够显示文字、图像、二维或 三维 (three-dimensional)动画等内容 的显示媒体，它的产生开创了户外媒体的新时代。