BPart III Reading Comprehension/B

Eating Our Young[A] At Feltonville School of Arts and Sciences, a middle school in a poor neighborhood of Philadelphia, the school year began chaotically as budget cuts took effect. With the cuts meaning no school nurse or counselor, teachers fill the gaps, disrupting lessons to help students in distress. And the problems are not small: A boy was stabbed in the head with a pencil by a fellow student; a girl reported sexual assault by an uncle; another refused to speak after the brutal murder of a parent. And that was just the start of the school year. To make matters worse, budget cuts are hurting essential academic programs.[B] Across the United States, whether it's schools, food stamps, health care or entry-level jobs, the young are feeling the force of government cutbacks. This year, the young and vulnerable especially have been hit hard through automatic federal spending cuts to programs like Head Start, nutrition assistance, and child welfare. Financial crises in cities like Philadelphia and Detroit have meant another wave of school budget cutbacks. And title weak job market is hurting the youngest workers most, with youth unemployment more than double the national jobless rate.[C] This is not just an American problem. In Europe, too, rigid budgets are squeezing even basic education and health needs. As governments strain to cover budget shortfalls and appease (缓解) debt fears, the young are losing out. "We're underinvesting in our children," said Julia Isaacs, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute and a child policy expert "Looking at future budget trends and the fact that Congress doesn't want to raise taxes, I can see children's programs continuing to be squeezed." [D] That has implications for long-term economic growth. Cutting back on the young is like eating the seed com: satisfying a momentary need but leaving no way to grow a prosperous future. [E] Is America overspending on its young? Public spending in the U.S. on children came to $12,164 per child in 2008, in current dollars, according to Kids' Share, an annual report published by the Urban Institute. Of that total, about a third came from the federal government and two thirds from state and local governments. Compare that to what we spend on the elderly, which primarily comes from the federal government. According to the Urban Institute, public spending on the elderly, in current dollars! was $27,117 per person in 2008, more than double the spending on children.[F] The trend is the same across the developed world. Julia Lynch, a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania, studied 20 countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development between 1985 and 2000 and found each spent more public funds on the elderly than on the young. But there were large differences among them. She found the most youth-oriented welfare states were the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, and in Scandinavia, while the most elderly-oriented were Japan, Italy, Greece, the U.S., Spain, and Austria. Somewhere in the middle were Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Portugal.[G] Since the 1960s, federal spending on kids in the U.S. had been rising. That trend ended in 2011, when it dropped by $2 billion to $377 billion. A year later the figure plunged even more—by $28 billion. And spending on kids is planned to shrink further over the next decade. The Urban Institute has forecast that federal spending on kids will decrease from 10 percent of the federal budget today to 8 percent by 2023. That decline will occur even as federal spending is expected to increase by $1 trillion over the same period.[H] So, what is the federal government spending on? The budget can be roughly divided in the following way: 41 percent goes to the elderly and disabled portions of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid; 20 percent to defense; 10 percent to children; 6 percent to interest payments on the debt; and 23 percent to all other government functions. So if spending on kids does fall to 8 percent of the federal budget, and if interest payments rise along with higher interest rates over the same period, the federal government soon will be spending more on interest payments on the debt than on children.[I] What's driving government cutbacks? Much can be tied to fears of rising national debt. Paradoxically, advocates of debt reduction claim they are acting in the interest of the young; our debts seem be too heavy for the next generation. But in a super competitive global economy, nations investing today in the well-being and education of the young are writing the success stories of tomorrow.[J] Of course, the U.S. is investing in education. Roughly 65 percent of all public spending on kids is on education, and that's done primarily through state and local governments. But whether it's early childhood education, elementary, middle, or high schools, or universities and colleges, fewer resources are going into public education. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of teachers employed in kindergarten through year 12th grade, principals, superintendents and support staff, fell 2 percent between 2009 and 2011 while enrollment was steady.[K] The trend of putting fewer resources into public education is even more striking at the college level. Take the University of California for example: The average annual student charges for resident undergraduates have increased 275 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars since 1990 to 1991, while the university's average per-student expenditures have decreased 25 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars over the same period. So as California students pay much more for their education than their parents did, they're getting less.[L] Throughout the current downturn, unemployment has tailed the workforce. The hardest hit has been the young. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment for 16-to-24-year-olds in July was 16.3 percent. That compares with our national jobless rate of 7.3 percent. And there are also large numbers of the young who are underemployed. Gallup recently found that only 43.6 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 to 29 had a full-time job in June 2013.[M] High youth unemployment has implications for future earnings power. Economists who study the labor market have found that people who graduate from school without a job are likely to have lower wages in their career.[N] Even when the young land a job, investment in young workers isn't what it used to be. Training and education used to be part of any full-time job. Now, while global companies like Google advertise staff training, they tend to be the exception. Most companies have cut back over the years as corporate budgets are reduced and companies believe they can buy talent rather than grow it.[O] Whether because of government cutbacks or falling business investment, the young are facing tougher prospects than did their parents. And that raises irritating questions about the future. Starting with the youngest, without solid nutrition and basic health care, children can't become engaged and active students. Without resources to teach and a secure support system, public schools can't turn out educated, smart kids. With the costs of college rising beyond the reach of many, large groups are being left behind. And with entry-level jobs and training scarcer than ever, the human capital necessary to grow America's huge economy isn't being developed. The burden on today's young to support an aging society will grow—even as the resources they are provided don't.

移动互联网(mobile Internet)的出现改变了我们的生活，智能手机的普及则颠覆了传统的支付方式。随着移动智能手机的普及，手机变身“移动钱包”。如今，中国大部分城市的居民几乎都在使用智能手机支付。作为一种以手机为主要工具对所消费的商品或服务进行支付的服务方式，移动支付之所以能够得到迅速发展，与其便携化且不受时间和地点限制有很大的关系。微信(WeChat)和支付宝(Alipay)等第三方手机支付软件发展迅猛，开启了移动支付的新时代。

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Smokers in the "land of the free" are finding themselves increasingly less free to pursue their habit. New York City officials are the latest to consider banning smoking in their parks and outside spaces. The possibility of extending smokefree legislation was【C1】______in a public health policy document. However the mayor, Michael Bloomberg—who has【C2】______anti-smoking programmes but is up for reelection—appeared to qualify the extent of the【C3】______. He wanted "to see if smoking in parks has a【C4】______impact on people's health", the New York Times reported recently, suggesting it "might not be【C5】______possible to enforce a ban across thousands of acres." Cigarette makers Phillip Morris USA did not like the idea at all. "We believe that smoking should be permitted outdoors except in very particular【C6】______, such as outdoor areas primarily【C7】______for children," a company spokesman said. But the ban plan from the city's health commissioner, Thomas Farley, won some backing from the council's speaker, Christine Quinn. Fines should be【C8】______, she said, but "conceptually, that's an idea I'm very interested in and open to." Such bans remain【C9】______but are increasing, with California in the vanguard(前锋). State legislators there have【C10】______smoking in all state parks and on parts of beaches, two years after Los Angeles extended its existing ban on playgrounds and beaches to parks. Chicago still allows smoking in many of its parks, but bans it at beaches and playgrounds. A)occurrences B)modest C)negative D)evacuated E)championed F)circumstances G)outlined H)mild I)logistically J)designated K)provoked L)rare M)analytically N)prohibited O)restrictions

中国学习英语的人口数量全球最多。数据显示，中国有4亿多人在学英语，约占全国总人口的1／3。目前，中国的小学，甚至幼儿园都开设英语课程。英语学习贯穿中国学生的整个学习生涯。英语是中国学生必须学习的一门科目。中国是世界上对英语学习最狂热的国家之一，“英语热”在中国的持续也引发了激烈的争论。很多人认为应该在高考中降低英语考试的分值，突出语文的重要性，让更多的人关注自己的母语。

In the first year or so of Web business, most of the action has revolved around efforts to tap the consumer market. More recently, as the Web proved to be more than a fashion, companies have started to buy and sell products and services with one another. Such business-to-business sales make sense because business people typically know what product they're looking for. Nonetheless, many companies still hesitate to use the Web because of doubts about its reliability. "Businesses need to feel they can trust the pathway between them and the supplier," says senior analyst Blane Erwin of Forrester Research. Some companies are limiting the risk by conducting online transactions only with established business partners who are given access to the company's private intranet. Another major shift in the model for Internet commerce concerns the technology available for marketing. Until recently, Internet marketing activities have focused on strategies to "pull" customers into sites. In the past year, however, software companies have developed tools that allow companies to "push" information directly out to consumers, transmitting marketing messages directly to targeted customers. Most notably, the PointCast Network uses a screen saver to deliver a continually updated stream of news and advertisements to subscribers' computer monitors. Subscribers can customize the information they want to receive and proceed directly to a company's Web site. Companies such as Virtual Vineyards are already starting to use similar technologies to push messages to customers about special sales, product offering, or other events. But push technology has earned the contempt of many Web users. Online culture thinks highly of the notion that the information flowing onto the screen comes there by specific request. Once commercial promotion begins to fill the screen uninvited, the distinction between the Web and television fades. That's a prospect that horrifies Net purists. But it is hardly inevitable that companies on the Web will need to resort to push strategies to make money. The examples of Virtual Vineyards, Amazon.com, and other pioneers show that a Web site selling the right kind of products with the right mix of interactivity, hospitality, and security will attract online customers. And the cost of computing power continues to free fall, which is a good sign for any enterprise setting up shop in silicon. People looking back 5 or 10 years from now may well wonder why so few companies took the online plunge.

Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a letter to your foreign language teacher to invite him/her to attend the Christmas party. You should write at least 150 words following the outline given below.

诸葛亮是 三国时期 (the Three Kingdoms Period)杰出的军事家和政治家。他帮助刘备打了一系列的战争，联合盟友，不断扩张刘备的领地、增强刘备的实力。 蜀国 (the Shu State)建立后，他被任命为 丞相 (Prime Minister)，管理政务、军事、民族交流和农业生产等事务。诸葛亮也是一位著名的艺术家，爱好 书法 (calligraphy)、绘画和音乐。他还发明或改造了一些运输工具和传统兵器，是一位优秀的发明家。中国人认为诸葛亮是个非常有智慧的人，他的传奇故事至今仍广泛流传。中国很多的传统习语都与他有关。

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For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a letter. Suppose you are Li Ming. Write a letter to Zhang Ying, a schoolmate of yours who is going to visit you during the week-long holiday. You should write at least 100 words according to the suggestions given below. 1．表示欢迎。 2．提出对度假安排的建议。 3．提醒应注意的事项。

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但中国人口众多、资源不足，能源发展面临着诸多挑战，比如石油储备不足，能源消费增长过快。

It is a common belief that sharp frosts color the autumn leaves. As a matter of fact, such frosts are far more likely to turn leaves black or dull brown than to give them the gorgeous tints we admire. The coloring of the leaves in the fall is a chemical process that is favored by gradual cooling rather than sudden cold. It is not entirely confined to the autumn. Bright red and yellow leaves are often found on the swamp maple and other trees, even in summer. Through the season of growth the leaves serve as food factories for the trees. In their tiny cells the carbon of the air is combined with materials brought up by the tree fluid from the roots to form the starch, sugar, and other substances by which the whole tree is fed. The food-making process is performed by sunshine with the aid of a substance called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is a mixture of several pigments, or coloring matters. One of these is green, and gives the leaves their ordinary color. Another is yellow and is the same substance that, on account of its abundance in growing grass, makes butter particularly yellow in the spring. When the cool weather sets in and the growth of vegetation slows down, the trees need less food and gradually suspend work in the leaf factories. Both the food and the chlorophyll in the leaves are drawn into the body of the tree and stored up for use in the spring. This transfer involves many chemical changes. One of them is the breaking up of the chlorophyll into the substances of which it is composed. The green pigment passes out of the leaves before the yellow. Thus yellow becomes one of the prevailing hues of the autumn foliage. The reds, which also prevail in the autumn, do not come from the chlorophyll, but from pigments contained in the sap. Their appearance indicates an excess of sugar in the leaves, after the withdrawal of other materials. It is supposed, also, that the reddening of the leaves protects the food materials from the harmful effects of strong light during their passage into the tree. The same red coloring is seen in the buds of many plants in the spring, where it probably also serves a protective purpose.

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中国灯笼的历史源远流长，可追溯到1800多年前的 西汉时期 (the Western Han Dynasty)。在古代，每年的元宵节前，人们都会挂起红灯笼。来营造一种节日氛围。中国的灯笼艺人把灯笼工艺与传统的绘画、 书法 (calligraphy)、剪纸、 刺绣 (embroidery)等艺术相结合，创造出了丰富的灯笼品种。灯笼在中华民族的悠久历史中扮演着重要角色。象征着幸福和团圆。在现代社会，灯笼仍然有着特殊的地位。灯笼是中式风格装修的必要元素，也是喜庆节日里首选的装饰品。

While the mission of public schools has expanded beyond education to include social support and extra-curricular activities, the academic schedule has changed little in more than a century. Reclaiming the school day for academic instruction and escaping the time-bound traditions of education are vital steps in the school-reform process, says a report released today by the National Education Commission on Time and Learning. The commission's report, titled "Prisoners of Time," calls the fixed clock and calendar in American education a "fundamental design flaw" in desperate need of change. "Time should serve children instead of children serving time," the report says. The two-year commission found that holding American students to "world-class standards," will require more time for classroom instruction. "We have been asking the impossible of our students—that they learn as much as their foreign peers while spending half as much as in core academic subjects," it states. The Commission compared the relationships between time and learning in Japan,' Germany, and the United States and found that American students receive less than half the basic academic instruction that Japanese and German students are provided. On average, American students can earn a high school diploma if they spend only 41 percent of their school time on academics, says the report. American students spend an average of three hours a day on "core" academics such as English, math, science, and history, the commission found. Their report recommends offering a minimum of 5.5 hours of academics every school day. The nine-member commission also recommends lengthening the school day beyond the traditional six hours. "If schools want to continue offering important activities outside the academic core, as well as serving as a hub for family and community services, they should keep school doors open longer each day and each year," says John Hodge Jones, superintendent of schools in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and chairman of the commission. The typical school year in American public schools is 180 days. Eleven states allow school years of 175 days or less, and only one state requires more than 180 day. "For over a decade, education reform advocates have been working feverishly to improve our schools," says Milton Goldberg, executive director of the commission. "But... if reform is to truly take hold, the six-hour, 180-day school year should be relegated(归属于)to museums—an exhibit from our education past."

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