One of the biggest hurdles to getting more electric cars on the road is " range anxiety," the worry people have of their car battery dying before they get to a charging station. A new study should help brush those fears aside. Most American drivers do not go beyond the distance that today's electric cars can go on a single battery charge in one day, the study found. In fact, 87 percent of the vehicles on the road could be replaced by low-cost EVs on the market today even if they were only charged overnight, say the MIT researchers who conducted the study published in Nature Energy. If this large-scale swap were to happen, it would lead to roughly 30 percent less carbon emissions even if the electricity were coming from carbon-emitting power plants. The researchers analyzed daily vehicle travel patterns across the U. S. by bringing together two large datasets. One, the National Household Travel Survey, gave them information on millions of trips made by all kinds of cars. The other included detailed GPS-based data collected by state agencies that measured second-by-second velocity of each kind of trip. The researchers also factored in ambient temperature and inefficient driving behavior to calculate the energy consumption of each trip: extensive heating or cooling and driving habits such as hard acceleration zap energy and can reduce driving range. Taking the 2013 Nissan Leaf as an example of an affordable EV on the market, the researchers found that it could meet the driving needs of 87 percent of vehicles on a single day. That number could go up to 98 percent as batteries meet new capacity targets set by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy. What about the remaining 13 percent of trips? The researchers admit that electric cars might not cut it for longer trips, such as vacation travel. For those times, they suggest that people in a two-car household could use their gasoline-powered vehicle, or they could rely on car-sharing or renting services. The data covered the country's 12 major metro cities, from dense urban areas such as New York to sprawling cities like Houston. Surprisingly, the adoption potential of electric vehicles was pretty similar across these diverse cities: it only varied from 84-93 percent. " This goes against the view that electric vehicles—at least affordable ones, which have limited range—only really work in dense urban centers," said the study's lead author Jessika E. Trancik in a press release. Trancik and her colleagues admit that addressing range anxiety might not be enough to boost EV sales. "Satisfying consumer preferences for vehicle performance and aesthetics will also be important, as will financing options to offset the purchase price," they say in the paper.

Suppose you have received a job offer from the ABC Company. However, you are not going to work in that company. Write a letter to 1) decline the offer, and 2) explain your reasons. You should write about 100 words. Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write your address.

BPart ADirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D./B

Organizations and societies rely on fines and rewards to harness people's self-interest in the service of the common good. The threat of a ticket keeps drivers in line, and the promise of a bonus inspires high performance. But incentives can also backfire, diminishing the very behavior they're meant to encourage. A generation ago, Richard Titmuss claimed that paying people to donate blood reduced the supply. Economists were skeptical, citing a lack of empirical evidence. But since then, new data and models have prompted a sea change in how economists think about incentives—showing, among other things, that Titmuss was right often enough that businesses should take note. Experimental economists have found that offering to pay women for donating blood decreases the number willing to donate by almost half, and that letting them contribute the payment to charity reverses the effect. Dozens of recent experiments show that rewarding self-interest with economic incentives can backfire when they undermine what Adam Smith called "the moral sentiments". The psychology here has escaped blackboard economists, but it will be no surprise to people in business: When we take a job or buy a car, we are not only trying to get stuff—we are also trying to be a certain kind of person. People desire to be esteemed by others and to be seen as ethical and dignified. And they don't want to be taken for suckers. Rewarding blood donations may backfire because it suggests that the donor is less interested in being altruistic than in making a dollar. Incentives also run into trouble when they signal that the employer mistrusts the employee or is greedy. Close supervision of workers coupled with pay for performance is textbook economics—and a prescription for sullen employees. Perhaps most important, incentives affect what our actions signal, whether we're being self-interested or civic-minded, manipulated or trusted, and they can imply—sometimes wrongly—what motivates us. Fines or public rebukes that appeal to our moral sentiments by signaling social disapproval (think of littering) can be highly effective. But incentives go wrong when they offend or diminish our ethical sensibilities. This does not mean it's impossible to appeal to self-interested and ethical motivations at the same time—just that efforts to do so often fail. Ideally, policies support socially valued ends not only by harnessing self-interest but also by encouraging public-spiritedness. The small tax on plastic grocery bags enacted in Ireland in 2002 that resulted in their virtual elimination appears to have had such an effect. It punished offenders monetarily while conveying a moral message. Carrying a plastic bag joined wearing a fur coat in the gallery of anti-social anachronisms.

BPart ADirections: Write a composition/letter of no less than 100 words on the following information./B

BPart ADirections: Write a composition/letter of no less than 100 words on the following information./B

Robots have been the stuff of science fiction for so long that it is surprisingly hard to see them as the stuff of management fact. It is time for management thinkers to catch up with science-fiction writers. Robots have been doing menial jobs on production lines since the 1960s. The world already has more than 1 million industrial robots. There is now an acceleration in the rates at which they are becoming both cleverer and cheaper: an explosive combination. Robots are learning to interact with the world around them. Their ability to see things is getting ever closer to that of humans, as is their capacity to ingest information and act on it. Tomorrow' s robots will increasingly take on delicate, complex tasks. And instead of being imprisoned in cages to stop them colliding with people and machines, they will be free to wander. Until now executives have largely ignored robots, regarding them as an engineering rather than a management problem. This cannot go on: robots are becoming too powerful and ubiquitous . Companies certainly need to rethink their human-resources policies—starting by questioning whether they should have departments devoted to purely human resources. The first issue is how to manage the robots themselves. An American writer, Isaac Asimov laid down the basic rule in 1942: no robot should harm a human. This rule has been reinforced by recent technological improvements: robots are now much more sensitive to their surroundings and can be instructed to avoid hitting people. A second question is how to manage the homo side of homo-robo relations. Workers have always worried that new technologies will take away their livelihoods, ever since the original Luddites' fears about mechanised looms. Now, the arrival of increasingly humanoid automatons in workplaces, in an era of high unemployment, is bound to provoke a reaction. Two principles—don't let robots hurt or frighten people—are relatively simple. Robot scientists are tackling more complicated problems as robots become more sophisticated. They are keen to avoid hierarchies among rescue-robots(because the loss of the leader would render the rest redundant). They are keen to avoid duplication between robots and their human handlers. This suggests that the world could be on the verge of a great management revolution: making robots behave like humans rather than the 20th century's preferred option, making humans behave like robots.

BPart B/B

48.Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthechartbelow.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsneatlyontheANSWERSHEET.

Mass transportation revised the social and economic fabric of the American city in three fundamental ways. It speeded up physical expansion, it sorted out people and land uses, and it【C1】______the inherent instability of urban life.【C2】______opening vast areas of unoccupied land for residential expansion, the buses,【C3】______. commuter trains, and electric trolleys pulled settled regions outward two to four times more【C4】______from city centers than they were in the pre-modern era In 1850, for example, the borders of Boston lay【C5】______two miles from the old business district; by the turn of the century the【C6】______extended ten miles. Now those who could afford it could live far removed from the old city center and still【C7】______there for work, shopping, and【C8】______. The new accessibility of land around the periphery of almost every major city【C9】______an explosion of real estate development and fueled what we now【C10】______as urban sprawl. Between 1890 and 1920, for example, some 250,000 new residential lots were recorded within the borders of Chicago,【C11】______of them located in outlying areas. Over the same period, another 550,000 were plotted outside the city limits【C12】______within the metropolitan area. Anxious to take advantage of the possibilities of commuting, real estate developers【C13】______800,000 potential building sites to the Chicago region in just thirty years—lots that could have housed five to six million people. Of course, many were never【C14】______; there was always a huge surplus of subdivided, but vacant, land around Chicago and other cities. These【C15】______present a feature of residential expansion【C16】______the growth of mass transportation: urban sprawl was essentially unplanned. It was【C17】______by thousands of small investors who paid little care to coordinated land use or to【C18】______land users. Those who purchased and prepared land for residential purposes, particularly land near or outside city borders【C19】______transit lines and middle-class inhabitants were anticipated, did so to create demand as much as to respond to it. Chicago is a prime example of this【C20】______. Real estate subdivision there proceeded much faster than population growth.

Throughout the whole period of one's lifetime, the achieving of happiness can be seen as our【C1】______and everlasting goal. Happiness is far more than a strong body, a【C2】______villa or an around-the-world tour; it is something we need from our heart. However, we can investigate happiness【C3】______scientific methods. When we are asked the question "Where can we find happiness" , it is a【C4】______difficult to answer accurately. We can find happiness right in our own home, in our workplace, in school, in the【C5】______of our friends, etc. It is up to us to find the ways and means to achieve that happiness each of us seek and【C6】______for. However, it is essential to【C7】______that there is no one absolute way to achieve happiness. People may have different ideas with【C8】______to the ways of achieving happiness. The following five【C9】______are【C10】______by many people as sources of happiness: family and friends, wealth, position, educational achievement and fame. To give it a comprehensive【C11】______, happiness is a【C12】______state of well-being characterized by positive or pleasant emotions【C13】______from contentment to intense joy. A【C14】______of biological, psychological, religious, and philosophical approaches have striven to define happiness and【C15】______its sources. Various research groups, including positive psychology, endeavor to【C16】______the scientific method to answer questions about what "happiness" is, and how we might【C17】______it. There are many ways to be happy. Spend time with individuals who are dear to you. There is nothing more【C18】______than to be with the people you love. Do something nice for others. Helping others is a very honorable way to find happiness. If your schedule is too【C19】______for volunteer work, you can just donate a small sum of money or some old clothes or toys to charily. When you eat out, try to be a good【C20】______to the waiters or the valet who safely parked your car. All these simple things will not only make you happy, but other people as well.

You are going to study at a foreign university. Write a letter inquiring about the specific information as regards accommodation, fees and qualifications there. You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET 2. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use " Li Ming" instead. Do not write the address. (10 points)

Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyourwriting,youshould1)describethechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsonANSWERSHEET2.(15points)

BPart ADirections: Write a composition/letter of no less than 100 words on the following information./B

Your delegation has just returned from a visit to a university in the US. And you were warmly treated there by the Headmaster Dickens. Please write a letter to express your thanks to him for his hospitality and hope for further cooperation. You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET. Do not sign your name. Use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write the address. (10 points)

Scientists have discovered a powerful antibiotic in the blood stream of giant pandas that can destroy bacteria The Chinese researchers discovered the【C1】______known as cathelicidin-AM, after【C2】______the panda"s DNA. It"s thought that the antibiotic is【C3】______by the bear"s immune system in order to protect them from infections. The scientists found that cathelicidin-AM killed bacteria in less than an hour【C4】______other antibiotics took more than six hours. They now want to develop the substance as a new drug to fight superbugs. The【C5】______bears, of which there are just 1,600 in the wild, have become a symbol for conservation—and now there could be a new reason to try and protect them.【C6】______, scientists will not need to rely on the animal"s unreliable breeding ability to【C7】______the new antibiotic, as they have been able to make it artificially in the lab by decoding the genes to produce a small molecule known as a peptide. Dr Xiuwen Yan, who led the research at the Life Sciences College of Nanjing Agricultural University in China told the Daily Telegraph: "It showed potential antimicrobial activities against wide【C8】______of microorganisms including bacteria, both standard and drug-resistant【C9】______. Under the pressure of increasing microorganisms【C10】______drug resistance against conventional antibiotics, there is【C11】______need to develop new type of antimicrobial agents. Gene-encoded antibiotics play an important role in immune system against【C12】______microorganisms. They cause much less drug resistance than conventional antibiotics." Panda populations have decreased【C13】______the destruction of their natural habitat and bamboo food【C14】______in China and south east Asia.【C15】______to increase their numbers, including efforts at Edinburgh Zoo with resident pandas Tian Tian and Yang Guang, have been【C16】______for the extreme difficulty in getting them to breed in captivity.【C17】______in the wild, pandas【C18】______to breed easily, as the females only come into season once a year. It has been【C19】______that the millions of pounds spent in using expensive artificial breeding techniques could be put to better use on other conservation projects. And this new discovery is likely to【C20】______the case to save the endangered creatures.

BPart ADirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D./B

BPart ADirections: Write a composition/letter of no less than 100 words on the following information./B

BPart CDirections: Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese./B

Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthechart.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150words.