单选题 Questions6-9 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

单选题 Americans today don't place a very high value on intellect. Our heroes are athletes, entertainers, and entrepreneurs, not scholars. Even our schools are where we send our children to get a practical education—not to pursue knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Symptoms of pervasive anti-intellectualism in our schools aren't difficult to find. 'Schools have always been in a society where practice is more important than intellect', says education writer Diane Ravitch. 'Schools could be a counterbalance'. Ravitch's latest book, Left Back: A Century of Failed School Reforms, traces the roots of anti-intellectualism in our schools, concluding they are anything but a counterbalance to the American distaste for intellectual pursuits. But they could and should be. Encouraging kids to reject the life of the mind leaves them vulnerable to exploitation and control. Without the ability to think critically, to defend their ideas and understand the ideas of others, they cannot fully participate in our democracy. Continuing along this path, says writer Earl Shorris, 'We will become a second-rate country. We will have a less civil society'. 'Intellect is resented as a form. of power or privilege', writes historian and Professor Richard Hofstadter in Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, a Pulitzer Prize winning book on the roots of anti-intellectualism in U.S. politics, religion, and education. From the beginning of our history, says Hofstadter, our democratic and populist urges have driven us to reject anything that smells of elitism. Practicality, common sense, and native intelligence have been considered more noble qualities than anything you could learn from a book. Ralph Waldo Emerson and other Transcendentalist philosophers thought schooling and rigorous book learning put unnatural restraints on children, 'We are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms for 10 or 15 years and come out at last with a bellyful of words and do not know a thing'. Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn exemplified American anti-intellectualism. Its hero avoids being civilized—going to school and learning to read, so he can preserve his innate goodness. Intellect, according to Hofstadter, is different from native intelligence, a quality we reluctantly admire. Intellect is the critical, creative, and contemplative side of the mind. Intelligence seeks to grasp, manipulate, re-order, and adjust, while intellect examines, ponders, wonders, theorizes, criticizes and imagines. School remains a place where intellect is mistrusted. Hofstadter says our country's educational system is in the grips of people who 'joyfully and militantly proclaim their hostility to intellect and their eagerness to identify with children who show the least intellectual promise'.

单选题 Anger is a very common human 28 and at some time or another we all experience it. From young children to old people we all feel anger at various times and for various reasons. There is nothing wrong with this, it is only when you lose 29 of your feelings and begin to rant and rave unnecessarily about something very trivial that it is seen as a 30 . Because it is a natural emotion you do not have to strive to get rid of it 31 , but you only have to control it getting out of hand. If you know that the lack of self confidence is your main problem. Do something about it. There are 32 books written about this subject and there is much to be learned from them. Check your local churches or clubs and find out if there are any 33 currently running on the subject of self confidence and self esteem. It is well worth the effort to 34 your self confidence. Make yourself do things that might freak you out. Talking to strangers might 35 you. If this is the case make a point of 36 one stranger per day and starting a conversation. Make a list of things that 37 you and lead to you getting angry. Discuss your list with your family and they will give you their support in helping you any way they can. They will be so pleased that you are trying to be different that you can be sure that they will do everything they can to make you happy. A. aggravate B. approaching C. classes D. completely E. control F. emotion G. tournament H. trailed I. lecture J. numerous K. problem L. followed M. regain N. scare O. view

单选题 'Depression' is more than a serious economic downturn. What distinguishes a depression from a harsh recession is paralyzing fear—fear of the unknown so great that it causes consumers, businesses, and investors to retreat and panic. They save up cash and desperately cut spending. They sell stocks and other assets. A shattering loss of confidence inspires behavior that overwhelms the normal self-correcting mechanisms that usually prevent a recession from becoming deep and prolonged; a depression. Comparing 1929 with 2007-09, Christina Romer, the head of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, finds the initial blow to confidence far greater now than then. True, stock prices fell a third from September to December 1929, but fewer Americans then owned stocks. Moreover, home prices barely dropped. From December 1928 to December 1929, total household wealth declined only 3%. By contrast, the loss in household wealth between December 2007 and December 2008 was 17%. Both stocks and homes, more widely held, dropped more. Thus traumatized (受到创伤), the economy might have gone into a free fall ending in depression. Indeed, it did go into free fall. Shoppers refrained from buying cars, appliances, and other big-ticket items. Spending on such 'durables' dropped at a 12% annual rate in 2008's third quarter, a 20% rate in the fourth. And businesses shelved investment projects. That these huge declines didn't lead to depression mainly reflects, as Romer argues, countermeasures taken by the government. Private markets for goods, services, labor, and securities do mostly self-correct, but panic feeds on itself and disarms these stabilizing tendencies. In this situation, only government can protect the economy as a whole, because most individuals and companies are involved in the self-defeating behavior of self-protection. Government's failure to perform this role in the early 1930s transformed recession into depression. Scholars will debate which interventions this time—the Federal Reserve's support of a failing credit system, guarantees of bank debt, Obama's 'stimulus' plan and bank 'stress test '—counted most in preventing a recurrence. Regardless, all these complex measures had the same psychological purpose., to reassure people that the free fall would stop and, thereby, curb the fear that would perpetuate (使持久) a free fall. All this improved confidence. But the consumer sentiment index remains weak, and all the rebound has occurred in Americans' evaluation of future economic conditions, not the present. Unemployment (9.8%) is abysmal (糟透的), the recovery's strength unclear. Here, too, there is an echo from the 1930s. Despite bottoming out in 1933, the Depression didn't end until World War Ⅱ. Some government policies aided recovery; some hindered it. The good news today is that the bad news is not worse.

单选题 香港大学 在历代学者、学生及校友的共同努力下，香港大学经历了时间与转变的考验，成为一所充满动力的学府。这里的毕业生除了加入政府服务行业或投身香港的不同机构外，还在海外开创事业。 诚然，大学是任何社会中最历久不衰的机构之一，也是社会的灵魂，为大家带来希望。今天的香港大学一如既往，是知识的捍卫者、创意和创新的孕育者(incubator)，是知识分子和人才的摇篮，也是社会良知和责任的先驱。

单选题 Questions31-33 are based on the recording you have just heard.

单选题 A Nation that's Losing Its Toolbox A. The scene inside the Home Depot on Weyman Avenue here would give the old-time Ameri-can craftsman pause. In Aisle 34 is precut plastic flooring, the glue already in place. In Aisle 26 are prefabricated windows. Stacked near the checkout counters, and as colorful as a Fisher-Price toy, is a not-so-serious-looking power tool: a battery-operated saw-and-drill combination. And if you don't want to do it yourself, head to Aisle 23 or Aisle 35, where a help desk will arrange for an in- staller. B. It's all very handy stuff, I guess, a convenient way to be a do-it-yourselfer without being all that good with tools. But at a time when the American factory seems to be a shrinking presence, and when good manufacturing jobs have vanished, perhaps never to return, there is something deeply troubling about this dilution of American craftsmanship. C. This isn't a lament (伤感)—or not merely a lament—for bygone times. It's a social and cultural issue, as well as an economic one. The Home Depot approach to craftsmanship—simplify it, dumb it down, hire a contractor—is one signal that mastering tools and working with one's hands is receding in America as a hobby, as a valued skill, as a cultural influence that shaped thinking and behavior in vast sections of the country. D. That should be a matter of concern in a presidential election year. Yet neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney promotes himself as tool-savvy (使用工具很在行的) presidential timber, in the mold of a Jimmy Carter, a skilled carpenter and cabinet maker. E. The Obama administration does worry publicly about manufacturing, a first cousin of craftsmanship. When the Ford Motor Company, for example, recently announced that it was bringing some production home, the White House cheered. 'When you see things like Ford moving new production from Mexico to Detroit, instead of the other way around, you know things are changing,' says Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council. F. Ask the administration or the Republicans or most academics why America needs more manufacturing, and they respond that manufacturing gives birth to innovation, brings down the trade deficit, strengthens the dollar, generates jobs, arms the military and brings about a recovery from re-cession. But rarely, if ever, do they publicly take the argument a step further, asserting that a growing manufacturing sector encourages craftsmanship and that craftsmanship is, if not a birthright, then a vital ingredient of the American serf-image as a can-do, inventive, we-can-make-anything people. G. Traditional vocational training in public high schools is gradually declining, stranding thou-sands of young people who seek training for a craft without going to college. Colleges, for their part, have since 1985 graduated fewer chemical, mechanical, industrial and metallurgical (冶金的)engineers, partly in response to the reduced role of manufacturing, a big employer of them. H. The decline started in the 1950s, when manufacturing generated a sturdy 28% of the national income, or gross domestic product, and employed one-third of the workforce. Today, factory output generates just 12% of G. D. P. and employs barely 9% of the nation's workers. I. Mass layoffs and plant closings have drawn plenty of headlines and public debate over the years, and they still occasionally do. But the damage to skill and craftsmanship—what's needed to build a complex airliner or a tractor, or for a worker to move up from assembler to machinist to supervisor—went largely unnoticed. J. 'In an earlier generation, we lost our connection to the land, and now we are losing our connection to the machinery we depend on,' says Michael Hout, a sociologist at the University of California, Berkeley. 'People who work with their hands,' he went on, 'are doing things today that we call service jobs, in restaurants and laundries, or in medical technology and the like.' K. That's one explanation for the decline in traditional craftsmanship. Lack of interest is another. The big money is in fields like finance. Starting in the 1980s, skill in finance grew in importance, and, as depicted in the news media and the movies, became a more appealing source of in-come. By last year, Wall Street traders, bankers and those who deal in real estate generated 21% of the national income, double their share in the 1950s. And Warren Buffett, the good-natured financier, became a homespun folk hero, without the tools and overalls (工作服). L. 'Young people grow up without developing the skills to fix things around the house,' says Richard Curtin, director of the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers. 'They know about computers, of course, but they don't know how to build them.' M. Manufacturing's shrinking presence undoubtedly helps explain the decline in craftsmanship, if only because many of the nation's assembly line workers were skilled in craft work, if not on the job then in their spare time. In a late 1990s study of blue-collar employees at a General Motors plant (now closed) in Linden, N. J. , the sociologist Ruth Milkman of City University of New York found that many line workers, in their off-hours, did home renovation and other skilled work. 'I have often thought,' Ms. Milkman says, 'that these extracurricular jobs were an effort on the part of the workers to regain their dignity after suffering the degradation of repetitive assembly line work in the factory.' N. Craft work has higher status in nations like Germany, which invests in apprenticeship (学徒) programs for high school students. 'Corporations in Germany realized that there was an interest to be served economically and patriotically in building up a skilled labor force at home; we never had that ethos (风气),' says Richard Sennett, a New York University sociologist who has written about the connection of craft and culture. O. The damage to American craftsmanship seems to parallel the steep slide in manufacturing employment. Though the decline started in the 1970s, it became much steeper beginning in 2000. Since then, some 5.3 million jobs, or one-third of the workforce in manufacturing, have been lost. A stated goal of the Obama administration is to restore a big chunk of this employment, along with the multitude of skills that many of the jobs required. P. As for craftsmanship itself, the issue is how to preserve it as a valued skill in the general population. Ms. Milkman, the sociologist, argues that American craftsmanship isn't disappearing as quickly as some would argue—that it has instead shifted to immigrants. 'Pride in craft, it is alive in the immigrant world,' she says. Sol Axelrod, 37, the manager of the Home Depot here, fittingly learned to fix his own car as a teenager, even changing the brakes. Now he finds immigrant crafts-men gathered in abundance outside his store in the early morning, waiting for it to open so they can buy supplies for the day's work as contractors. Skilled day laborers, also mostly immigrants, wait quietly in hopes of being hired by the contractors. Q. Mr. Axelrod also says the recession and persistently high unemployment have forced many people to try to save money by doing more themselves, and Home Depot in response offers classes in fixing water taps and other simple repairs. The teachers are store employees, many of them older and semi-retired from a skilled trade, or laid off. 'Our customers may not be building cabinets or out-door decks; we try to do that for them,' Mr. Axelrod says, 'but some are trying to build up skills so they can do more for themselves in these hard times.'

单选题 Can societies be rich and green? A. 'If our economies are to flourish, if global poverty is to be eliminated and if the well-being of the world's people enhanced—not just in this generation but in succeeding generations—we must make sure we take care of the natural environment and resources on which our economic activity depends.' That statement comes not, as you might imagine, from a stereotypical tree-hugging, save-the-world greenie (环保主义者), but from Gordon Brown, a politician with a reputation for rigour, thoroughness and above all, caution. B. A surprising thing for the man who runs one of the world's most powerful economies to say? Perhaps; though in the run-up to the five-year review of the Millennium (千年的) Goals, he is far from alone. The roots of his speech, given in March at the roundtable meeting of environment and energy ministers from the G20 group of nations, stretch back to 1972, and the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm. C. 'The protection and improvement of the human environment is a major issue which affects the well-being of peoples and economic development throughout the world,' read the final declaration from this gathering, the first of a sequence which would lead to the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992 and the World Development Summit in Johannesburg three years ago. D. Hunt through the reports prepared by UN agencies and development groups—many for conferences such as this year's Millennium Goals review—and you will find that the linkage between environmental protection and economic progress is a common thread. E. Managing ecosystems sustainably is more profitable than exploiting them, according to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. But finding hard evidence to support the thesis is not so easy. Thoughts turn first to some sort of global statistic, some indicator which would rate the wealth of nations in both economic and environmental terms and show a relationship between the two. F. If such an indicator exists, it is well hidden. And on reflection, this is not surprising; the single word 'environment' has so many dimensions, and there are so many other factors affecting wealth—such as the oil deposits—that teasing out a simple economy-environment relationship would be almost impossible. G. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, a vast four-year global study which reported its initial conclusions earlier this year, found reasons to believe that managing ecosystems sustainably—working with nature rather than against it—might be less profitable in the short term, but certainly brings long-term rewards. H. And the World Resources Institute (WRI) in its World Resources 2005 report, issued at the end of August, produced several such examples from Africa and Asia; it also demonstrated that environmental degradation affects the poor more than the rich, as poorer people derive a much higher proportion of their income directly from the natural resources around them. I. But there are also many examples of growing wealth by trashing the environment, in rich and poor parts of the world alike, whether through unregulated mineral extraction, drastic water use for agriculture, slash-and-burn farming, or fossil-fuel-guzzling (大量消耗) transport. Of course, such growth may not persist in the long term—which is what Mr. Brown and the Stockholm declaration were both attempting to point out. Perhaps the best example of boom growth and bust decline is the Grand Banks fishery. For almost five centuries a very large supply of cod (鳕鱼) provided abundant raw material for an industry which at its peak employed about 40,000 people, sustaining entire communities in Newfoundland. Then, abruptly, the cod population collapsed. There were no longer enough fish in the sea for the stock to maintain itself, let alone an industry. More than a decade later, there was no sign of the ecosystem re-building itself. It had, apparently, been fished out of existence; and the once mighty Newfoundland fleet now gropes about frantically for crab on the sea floor. J. There is a view that modern humans are inevitably sowing the seed of a global Grand Banks-style disaster. The idea is that we are taking more out of what you might call the planet's environmental bank balance than it can sustain; we are living beyond our ecological means. One recent study attempted to calculate the extent of this 'ecological overshoot of the human economy', and found that we are using 1.2 Earth's-worth of environmental goods and services—the implication being that at some point the debt will be called in, and all those services—the things which the planet does for us for flee—will grind to a halt. K. Whether this is right, and if so where and when the ecological axe will fall, is hard to determine with any precision—which is why governments and financial institutions are only beginning to bring such risks into their economic calculations. It is also the reason why development agencies are not united in their view of environmental issues; while some, like the WRI, maintain that environmental progress needs to go hand-in-band with economic development, others argue that the priority is to build a thriving economy, and then use the wealth created to tackle environmental degradation. L. This view assumes that rich societies will invest in environmental care. But is this right? Do things get better or worse as we get richer? Here the Stockholm declaration is ambiguous. 'In the developing countries,' it says, 'most of the environmental problems are caused by under-development.' So it is saying that economic development should make for a cleaner world? Not necessarily; 'In the industrialised countries, environmental problems are generally related to industrialisation and technological development,' it continues. In other words, poor and rich both over-exploit the natural world, but for different reasons. It's simply not true that economic growth will surely make our world cleaner. M. Clearly, richer societies are able to provide environmental improvements which lie well beyond the reach of poorer communities. Citizens of wealthy nations demand national parks, clean rivers, clean air and poison-flee food. They also, however, use far more natural resources—fuel, water (all those baths and golf courses) and building materials. N. A case can be made that rich nations export environmental problems, the most graphic example being climate change. As a country's wealth grows, so do its greenhouse gas emissions. The figures available will not be completely accurate. Measuring emissions is not a precise science, particularly when it comes to issues surrounding land use; not all nations have released up-to-date data, and in any case, emissions from some sectors such as aviation are not included in national statistics. But the data is exact enough for a clear trend to be easily discernible. As countries become richer, they produce more greenhouse gases; and the impact of those gases will fall primarily in poor parts of the world. O. Wealth is not, of course, the only factor involved. The average Norwegian is better off than the average US citizen, but contributes about half as much to climate change. But could Norway keep its standard of living and yet cut its emissions to Moroccan or even Ethiopian levels? That question, repeated across a dozen environmental issues and across our diverse planet, is what will ultimately determine whether the human race is living beyond its ecological means as it pursues economic revival.

单选题For investors who desire low risk and guaranteed income, US government bonds are a secure investment because these bonds have the financial backing and full faith and credit of the federal government. Municipal bonds, also secure, are offered by local governments and often have 27 such as tax-free interest. Some may even be 28 Corporate bonds are a bit more risky. Two questions often 29 first-time corporate bond investors. The first is 'If I purchase a corporate bond, do I have to hold it until the maturity date?' The answer is no. Bonds are bought and sold daily on 30 securities exchanges. However, if you decide to sell your bond before its maturity date, you're not guaranteed to get the face value of the bond. For example, if your bond does not have 31 that make it attractive to other investors, you may be forced to sell your bond at a 32 , i. e., a price less than the bond's face value. But if your bond is highly valued by other investors, you may be able to sell it at a premium, i. e., a price above its face value. Bond prices generally 33 inversely (相反地) with current market interest rates. As interest rates go up, bond prices fall, and vice versa (反之亦然). Thus, like all investments, bonds have a degree of risk. The second question is 'How can I 34 the investment risk of a particular bond issue? 'Standard Poor's and Moody's Investors Service rate the level of risk of many corporate and government bonds. And 35 , the higher the market risk of a bond, the higher the interest rate. Investors will invest in a bond considered risky only if the 36 return is high enough. A. advantages B. assess C. bother D. conserved E. deduction F. discount G. embarrass H. features I. fluctuate J. indefinite K. insured L. major M. naturally N. potential O. simultaneously

单选题 诸葛亮 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。

单选题 Questions14-16 are based on the passage you have just heard.

单选题 Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the remark 'Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed.' You can. cite examples to illustrate your point. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.