Directions: We see a lot of advertisements almost everyday and everywhere. Some advertisements are good, but some are not so good. In this section, you are asked to write an essay on the positive/negative effects of some advertisements. You can take either stand and provide specific reasons and examples to support your idea. You should write at least 150 words.

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

Almost every year since the end of the financial crisis has started with rosy expectations among American forecasters, and this one is no different. Stock markets are buoyant, consumer confidence is improving, and economic seers are raising their growth forecasts for 2014. America"s S&P 500 share index is at a record high, after rising 30% in 2013—the biggest annual gain in almost two decades. Powered by America, global growth of close to 4% , on a purchasing-power-parity basis, seems possible. That would be nearly a full percentage point faster than 2013, and the best showing for several years. Yet amid the new-year cheer, it is worth remembering that almost every year since the financial crisis upbeat expectations have been disappointed. The biggest danger this time round is the optimism itself. All around the rich world, things are looking better. Britain"s recovery is gathering pace. Japan"s economy seems strong enough to cope with the imminent rise in its consumption tax. Even Europe"s prospects are less dismal. But America is driving this recovery. America"s growth rests on strong foundations. First, house-hold and corporate balance-sheets are in good shape. Unlike Europeans, who have barely reduced their private debt, Americans have put the hangover from the financial crisis behind them. The revival in house prices is testament to that. Second, thanks to cheap energy, years of wage restraint and a relatively weak dollar, America is competitive. These two factors have combined to produce faster job growth which, along with higher share prices, suggests stronger consumer spending and higher investment ahead. Finally, the fiscal squeeze is abating. In 2013 the federal government took 1. 75% of GDP out of the economy with tax rises and spending cuts. The recently agreed budget deal will help cut the fiscal squeeze to 0. 5% of GDP this year. All these factors could boost America"s growth to around 3% in 2014, well above its trend rate. More spending by American firms and households will, in turn, buoy demand for goods and services from everywhere from China to Germany. America"s appetite for foreign wares is not what it once was, but its economy is so big that faster spending will push up exports around the globe. The resulting support for growth will, in turn, improve domestic confidence from Europe to Japan.

You are going to read a list of headings and a text. Choose the most suitable heading from the list[A]to[G]for each numbered paragraph (41-45). There are two extra subheadings which you do not need to use. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)[A]Work passively so that the company can make you leave early with a compensation. [B]Determine how you will live during early retirement. [C]Start making as much money as you can. [D]Look for passive income. [E]Figure out how much you need to save in order to retire early. [F]Work out a plan to cut expenses after early retirement. [G]Figure out how much you will realistically spend in retirement. Most people think about retirement in some sense. You may be one of the "average" people looking for retirement at 65, or you may be someone who is aiming to retire early. Early retirement may not be for everyone: it usually means that you have to go to some form of extreme in order to reach it. You may have to work long hours, cut your expenses a good amount, or even both. However, I've never heard a complaint from those who retire early. Also, there are many websites that talk a lot about early retirement that you may want to read if you are serious about having this goal. 【R1】______ You need to really think about how you want to spend your retirement in order to determine how you will reach early retirement. Will you be traveling the world? Will you move to a cheaper foreign country? Will you have children? Will you have grandchildren? How will you pay for anything medical that arises? 【R2】______ For some reason, most think that they will spend less when they are in retirement. However, that is not always the case. You will have more free time and therefore will have more time to possibly spend money. Also, you will have to start paying for your own health insurance if it is currently being covered by your employer. The cost of this may shock you if you are not used to it. 【R3】______ Of course, the big factor of whether or not you can retire early is whether you actually have enough retirement funds. You need to figure out exactly how much you need to retire and how you can stretch that amount for decades to come. For example, if you want to retire in 10 years at the age of 35, you need to figure out exactly how much you need to survive in order to stretch your retirement funds for almost another 50 or 60 years. 【R4】______ One way to reach early retirement is to make as much money as you realistically can. Definitely do not engage in anything illegal, but try to get as many promotions and pay raises as you can. Work hard and know what your next step to reach that next pay level is. This is where certain people aren't interested in early retirement. Do you want a lifelong job that you love? Or do you want a job that will allow you to retire early? Usually it will be hard to have both. There are many fields that you may be interested in to make more money. You can go into engineering, sales, certain financial sector jobs and more. Or you could work a day job and earn extra income on the side as well. 【R5】______ If your goal is early retirement and you no longer want to work, you may want to look into making monthly income through passive sources. This way you are still bringing in money each month, but all that is required from you is occasional maintenance. Ideas for passive income include rental properties, investing in dividend-paying stocks, and more.

Look at your smartphone. Think about the decisions you will make on it today. You may snatch a dinner【C1】______, tell your spouse you're running late, or【C2】______a response to an email from your boss. But you might also decide that the light【C3】______the trees is worth an Instagram. You may write something on Facebook about the【C4】______of seeing your 5-year-old make a new friend at the park, or the frustration of watching your father get old and need to move into a home. You may choose a song on Spotify,【C5】______a movie on Netflix, or open a Kindle book. You may decide how to【C6】______a photo to send to a friend or lover. It's easy to think of our【C7】______revolutions as purely technological achievements.【C8】______microprocessors let everyone have a PC at home. Internet allowed computers to talk to each other. But that doesn't【C9】______the reasons these breakthroughs mattered so much to us. At their core, these were also creative revolutions. The PC didn't truly touch us【C10】______the rise of desktop publishing, followed by the rise of multimedia development tools, followed by the rise of web development tools. Its emotional power arrived with the ability to create amazing things on it.【C11】______, the Internet revolution really took off when we used it not just to download facts and figures but as a【C12】______to share music, writing, movies, and pictures. The number one site on the web may be Google,【C13】______number two and three are Facebook and YouTube,【C14】______—both primarily outlets for personal【C15】______. We created the desktop computer and the Internet as tools for efficiency, productivity, and communication. But they came to have real meaning for us【C16】______our natural creative drive took them over. Now it's the phone's turn. The smartphone began with a promise of productivity. Smartphones let us send messages【C17】______launching a computer, that's what made them【C18】______. The smartphone, like the PC and the Internet before it, has【C19】______a unique outlet for our creative impulses, and it will【C20】______our creative lives even more fundamentally.

BPart BDirections: Write an essay of 160-200 words based on the following information./B

Suppose last weekend you went to Brian"s home and enjoyed hospitality from his family. Write him a letter to 1) thank him, and 2) invite him to your home. You should write about 100 words. Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write your address.

Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingtable.Inyourwriting,youshould1)describethetable,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150words.

Cycling in London is less pleasant than in many European cities. Main roads teem with lorries; winding back streets are hard to navigate. The number of bicycle journeys has nonetheless doubled since 2000. Nationally, just 2% pedal to work. In Hackney, in London's East End, fully 9% do. But only 2% of women cycle to work in London, compared with 5% of men. Blacks and other ethnic minorities are reluctant to do it, too. Boris Johnson, London's mayor, oversaw the introduction of a bike-hiring scheme, which was started by his predecessor but quickly became known as the "Boris bike". He pushed for bright blue cycle paths on some busy roads. But the new cycle highways are far more ambitious and permanent. One will run east-west through the City and the West End. Another will run two miles from Elephant and Castle in the south to Farringdon in north London. Four existing routes will also be improved, while around 30 of the city's busiest junctions will be made a bit less dangerous. The new superhighways ought to be much safer than London's existing cycle lanes. A raised pavement will keep cyclists away from cars and lorries. Junctions will be redesigned and some parking bays—including a few for the disabled—will be removed. Cars will be prevented from turning down certain streets. Similar schemes exist elsewhere: since 2007 around 30 miles of protected cycle lanes have been created in New York. In Amsterdam, where lanes have existed for decades, old people and women are far more inclined to cycle. Greens have long lobbied for cycle paths on the grounds that moving people out of cars cuts air pollution. A series of highly publicised accidents, including one involving a newspaper journalist, and several deaths in the city have also put pressure on the mayor to make London safer. And the social transformation of the capital has encouraged officials to smile on cyclists. The population of inner London is rebounding as affluent folk move in. The new inhabitants want cleaner streets and fewer cars, which are viewed as suburban. Cycling was once a means of transport for the poor. But it has become an important marker of an affluent world city, argues Isabel Dedring, the deputy mayor for transport. "There's more pressure on cities to be nice places to live," she says.

BSection I Use of EnglishDirections: Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D./B

Write an email of about 100 words to a newspaper editor to advocate people to be responsible for their words on the Internet. You should include the details you think necessary. You should write neatly on the ANSWER SHEET. Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write the address.(10 points)

A new economics paper has some old-fashioned advice for people navigating the stresses of life: Find a spouse who is also your best friend. Social scientists have long known that 【C1】______ people tend to be happier, but they debate whether that is because marriage causes happiness or simply because happier people are more【C2】______ to get married. The new paper, 【C3】______ by the National Bureau of Economic Research, controlled for pre-marriage happiness levels. It【C4】______that being married makes people happier and more satisfied 【C5】______ their lives than those who remain single—particularly during the most stressful periods, like 【C6】______ crises. Even as fewer people are marrying, the disadvantages of remaining single have broad【C7】______. It's important【C8】______marriage is increasingly a force behind inequality.【C9】______marriages are more common among educated, high-income people, and increasingly out of reach for those who are not. That divide appears to【C10】______not just people' s income and family stability, but also their happiness and stress levels. A quarter of today's young adults will have never married by 2030, which would be the highest【C11】______in modern history, according to Pew Research Center.【C12】______both remaining unmarried and divorcing are more common among less-educated, lower-income people.【C13】______, high-income people still marry at high rates and are less likely to divorce. Those whose lives are most difficult could【C14】______most from marriage, according to the economists who wrote the new paper, John Helliwell and Shawn Grover. "Marriage may be most important when there is that stress in life and when things are going【C15】______," Mr. Grover said. 【C16】______ marital happiness long outlasted the honeymoon period.【C17】______some social scientists have argued that happiness levels are innate, so people return to their natural level of well-being【C18】______joyful or upsetting events, the researchers found that the benefits of marriage persist. One【C19】______for that might be the role of friendship within marriage. Those who【C20】______their spouse or partner to be their best friend get about twice as much life satisfaction from marriage as others, the study found.

Judging from recent surveys, most experts in sleep behavior agree that there is virtually an epidemic of sleepiness in the nation. "I can"t think of a single study that hasn"t found Americans getting【C1】______sleep than they ought to." says Dr. David. 【C2】______people who think they are sleeping enough would probably be【C3】______with more rest. The beginning of our sleep deficit crisis can be【C4】______to the invention of the light bulb a century ago. From diary entries and other personal【C5】______from the 18th and 19th centuries, sleep scientists have reached the【C6】______that the average person used to sleep about 9.5 hours a night. "The best sleep habits once were【C7】______on us, when we had nothing to do in the evening down on the farm, and it was dark." By the 1950s and 1960s, that sleep schedule had been reduced【C8】______, to between 7.5 and 8 hours, and most people had to wake to an alarm clock. "People cheat on their sleep, and they don"t even【C9】______they"re doing it," says Dr. David. "They think they"re okay because they can【C10】______on 6.5 hours, when they really need 7.5, 8 or even more to feel ideally【C11】______." Perhaps the most merciless robber of sleep, researchers say, is the【C12】______of the day. Whenever pressures from work, family, friends and community【C13】______, many people consider sleep the least【C14】______item on the agenda. "In our society, you"re considered【C15】______if you say you only need 5.5 hours" sleep. If you say you"ve got to get 8.5 hours, people think you lack【C16】______and ambition." To assess the【C17】______of sleep deficit, researchers have put subjects【C18】______a set of psychological and performance tests requiring them, for instance, to add columns of numbers or recall a passage read to them only minutes earlier. "We"ve found that if you"re sleep-deprived, performance【C19】______," says Dr. David. "Short-term memory is impaired,【C20】______are abilities to make decisions and to concentrate."

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

Driving through snowstorm on icy roads for long distances is a most nerve-racking experience. It is a paradox that the snow, coming【C1】______ gently, blowing gleefully in a high wind, all the while【C2】______ down a treacherous carpet, freezes the windows,【C3】______ the view. The might of automated man is【C4】______ . The horses, the powerful electrical systems, the deep-tread tires, all go【C5】______ nothing. One minute the road feels【C6】______ , and the next the driver is sliding over it, light as a【C7】______ , in a panic, wondering what the heavy trailer trucks coming up【C8】______ the rear are going to do. The trucks are like【C9】______ when you have to pass them, not at sixty or seventy【C10】______ you do when the road is dry, but at twenty-five and thirty. 【C11】______ their engines sound unnaturally loud. Snow, slush and【C12】______ of ice spray from beneath the wheels, obscure the windshield, and rattle【C13】______ your car. Beneath the wheels there is plenty of 【C14】______ for you to slide and get mashed to a pulp. Inch【C15】______ inch you move up, past the rear wheels, the center wheels, the cab, the front wheels, all【C16】______ too slowly by. Straight ahead you continue, 【C17】______ to cut over sharply would send you into a slip,【C18】______ in front of the vehicle. At last, there is 【C19】______ enough, and you creep back over, in front of the truck now, but【C20】______ the sound of its engine still thundering in your ears.

BSection II Reading Comprehension/B

Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyouressay,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteatleast150words.WriteyouressayontheANSWERSHEET.(15points)

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

Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyourwriting,youshould1)describethechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150words.

Next to snakes and crocs, Australians imagine sharks to be the country"s most dangerous creature. Tim Winton, an author, calls sharks "substitute for the Devil". Seven swimmers in three years have died from shark attacks in Mr Winton"s home state of Western Australia. The state"s government, led by Colin Barnett, is now taking revenge. In late November a skilled surfer died from a shark attack. A week later a shark killed a 19-year-old in New South Wales. The tragedies fed public anxieties. Mr Barnett ordered no-go zones for sharks to be set up offshore, marked by lines of baited hooks. Any shark caught on them more than three metres long was to be shot. The first shark caught in this strategy was shot on January 26th. Mr Barnett says he has to "protect the people of Western Australia". But previously hostile popular attitudes towards sharks are shifting. Plenty of Western Australians, along with environmentalists and shark experts, deplore the new policy. In early January, at the height of the summer holiday season, more than 4,000 protesters swamped Cottesloe Beach in Perth, with signs reading "Save Our Sharks"and "Science Not Slaughter". Of Australia"s 180 or so shark species, only a few are dangerous to humans: chiefly, bull sharks, tiger sharks and great whites, which are protected under federal law. Their numbers have suffered from the trade in shark fins for soup in Asia, which Australia and others have banned. Nonetheless, the federal government has given its conservative counterpart in Western Australia an exemption from protecting great whites under its "catch-and-kill" policy. Despite the recent attacks, deaths from sharks are rare—an average of just one person a year for the past half-century around Australia"s vast coastline, says the Australian Shark Attack File, a research outfit at Taronga Zoo in Sydney. By contrast, an average of 120 people drown each year off beaches and in harbours and rivers. There has been no fatal shark attack at Bondi beach in Sydney, Australia"s most popular strand, since 1929.