BSection II Reading Comprehension/B

You have just come back from the U. S. as a member of a Sino-American exchange program. Write a letter to your American colleague to l)express your thanks for his/her warm reception; 2)welcome him/her to visit China in due course. You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET 2. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Zhang Wei" instead. Do not write your address.

For decades the market for expensive headphones was mainly limited to hi-fi fans. But【C1】______the boxy stereo system in the corner of the bedroom is largely a thing of the past, and young music fans listen【C2】______on portable devices, headphones have become as much of a fashion statement as the music player itself.【C3】______the first to spot the potential of this market was Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine. In 2008 they【C4】______their Beats range of headphones, to great【C5】______. They have all but created a new product【C6】______: premium-priced headphones whose sound quality is good enough,【C7】______which mainly sell on their brand image. Beats Electronics and its founders have proved skilled【C8】______using celebrity endorsements and product placement to【C9】______his headphones. In America the company now has almost half the market for premium-priced headphones, compared with 21% for Bose, a longer-established maker. Beats headphones are exactly what hip-hop fans want, but might not suit opera lovers. Overall,【C10】______, they are a lot better than the earphones that come free with most portable devices. There is in any case a limit to how good music will sound through even the best headphones. Most of the music tracks on portable music players are in the form of mp3 audio files, in which the music has been【C11】______to make the files smaller and【C12】______fit more of them into a【C13】______amount of storage capacity. Since consumers have been persuaded, largely by Beats, that it is worth paying a high price for headphones, perhaps they could be persuaded to turn their backs on cheap mp3s and【C14】______recordings in true high fidelity. If sales of hi-fi recordings take off it may【C15】______the market for really top-class headphones like those of Grado Labs, another American firm. Grado has for decades relied on reviews in specialist magazines, and word-of-mouth【C16】______from fans, to spread news of its headphones"【C17】______reproduction. In contrast to Beats, it has avoided imagemaking it has not【C18】______since 1964 Unlike Dr Dre, then, its【C19】______are less tied to the【C20】______tastes and fast-changing fashions of the young.

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

People have been holding heated discussions recently about women"s experience in the workplace. Last month Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer at Face-book, published "Lean In", a【C1】______declaration on why women have not【C2】______to the most senior positions at companies. She concludes that it is partly women"s own【C3】______: they do not "lean in" and ask for promotions,【C4】______at meetings and insist on taking a seat at the table. Another new book will not have the same impact as "Lean In", but it offers some interesting new【C5】______on how women are coping at work, and what is holding them【C6】______. Some of it is down to simple miscommunication. Barbara Annis and John Gray argue in "Work With Me" that men and women are biologically wired to think and react【C7】______to situations, and have "gender blind spots" when it comes to understanding their co-workers" behavior. Ms Annis, who leads workshops on gender for big companies and governments, and Mr. Gray, author of "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus", have【C8】______to produce an easy-to-read guide to work place communications. Women ask more questions,【C9】______more people"s opinions and seek collaboration with coworkers more frequently than men. Men view these preferences as【C10】______of weakness, and women, in turn, grow【C11】______by how competitively men work, and how quickly they arrive【C12】______conclusions by themselves. 【C13】______both female and male employees became more "gender【C14】______" about how their work and behavioral preferences are hard-wired, it would contribute to a more harmonious workforce. Women have been choosing to leave companies at twice the【C15】______of men, and more than half the women whom the authors met in workshops were considering leaving their【C16】______. Women often tell their bosses that they are【C17】______for personal reasons, but the majority actually leave because they feel【C18】______teams and not valued for their contributions. Yet the【C19】______is that women often have trouble communicating with other women at work as well,【C20】______the authors do not explain in quite as much detail why this is so.

Write a letter of about 100 words to your American friend Jam, recommending your Chinese friend Han Ling to teach him Chinese. 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)

Despite the mountains of information warning us of the danger of smoking, teenager smoking is on the rise. In this section, you are asked to write an essay on the consequences of teenage smoking. You can provide specific reasons and examples to support your idea. You should write at least 150 words.

Writeanessaybasedonthecharts.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthecharts,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150words.

[A]Learn How to Recognize Your Soul Mate [B]Take Religion Seriously [C]Consider Marrying Young [D]Learn to Read Regularly [E]Watch "Groundhog Day" Repeatedly [F]Eventually Stop Fretting about Fame and Fortune [G]Cultivate the Habit of Watching Movies A few years ago, I took it upon myself to start writing tips for the young staff where I work about how to avoid doing things that would make their supervisors write them off. At that point, I had to deal with a reality: When it comes to a life filled with deep and lasting satisfactions, most of the cliches are true. How could I make them sound fresh to a new generation? Here' s how I tried. 【R1】______ The age of marriage for college graduates has been increasing for decades, and this cultural shift has been a good thing. But should you assume that marriage is still out of the question when you're 25? I'm not suggesting that you decide ahead of time that you will get married in your 20s. I'm just pointing out that you shouldn't exclude the possibility. If you get married in your 20s, it is likely to be a startup. What are the advantages of a startup marriage? For one thing, you will both have memories of your life together when it was all still up in the air. You'll have fun remembering the years when you went from being scared newcomers to the point at which you realized you were going to make it. 【R2】______ Marry someone with similar tastes and preferences. Which tastes and preferences? The ones that will affect life almost every day. It is absolutely crucial that you really, really like your spouse. You hear it all the time from people who are in great marriages: "I'm married to my best friend." They are being literal. A good working definition of "soul mate" is "your closest friend, to whom you are also sexually attracted." 【R3】______ One of my assumptions about you is that you are ambitious—meaning that you hope to become famous, rich or both, and intend to devote intense energy over the next few decades to pursuing those dreams. That is as it should be. But suppose you arrive at age 40, and you enjoy your work, have found your soul mate, are raising a couple of terrific kids—and recognize that you will probably never become either rich or famous. At that point, it is important to know fame and wealth do accomplish something: They cure ambition anxiety. But that' s all. It isn' t much. 【R4】______ Start by jarring yourself out of unreflective atheism or agnosticism. A good way to do that is to read about contemporary cosmology. That reading won' t lead you to religion, but it may stop you from being unreflective. Start reading religious literature. The past hundred years have produced excellent and accessible work, much of it written by people who came to adulthood as uninvolved in religion as you are. 【R5】______ Without the slightest bit of preaching, The movie "Groundhog Day" shows the bumpy, unplanned evolution of his protagonist from a jerk to a fully realized human being—a person who has learned to experience deep, lasting and justified satisfaction with life even though he has only one day to work with. You could learn the same truths by studying Aristotle's "Ethics" carefully, but watching "Groundhog Day" repeatedly is a lot more fun.

The sharing economy is a little like online shopping, which started in America 15 years ago. At first, people were worried about security. But having made a successful purchase from, say, Amazon , they felt safe buying elsewhere. Similarly, using Airbnb or a car-hire service for the first time encourages people to try other offerings. Next, consider eBay. Having started out as a peer-to-peer marketplace, it is now dominated by professional "power sellers"(many of whom started out as ordinary eBay users). The same may happen with the sharing economy, which also provides new opportunities for enterprise. Some people have bought cars solely to rent them out, for example. Incumbents are getting involved too. Avis, a car-hire firm, has a share in a sharing rival. So do GM and Daimler, two car-makers. In future, companies may develop hybrid models, listing excess capacity(whether vehicles, equipment or office space)on peer-to-peer rental sites. In the past, new ways of doing things online have not displaced the old ways entirely. But they have often changed them. Just as Internet shopping forced Walmart and Tesco to adapt, so online sharing will shake up transport, tourism, equipment-hire and more. The main worry is regulatory uncertainty. Will room-renters be subject to hotel taxes, for example? In Amsterdam officials are using Airbnb listings to track down unlicensed hotels. In some American cities, peer-to-peer taxi services have been banned after lobbying by traditional taxi firms. The danger is that although some rules need to be updated to protect consumers from harm, incumbents will try to destroy competition. People who rent out rooms should pay tax, of course, but they should not be regulated like a Ritz-Carlton hotel. The lighter rules that typically govern bed-and-breakfasts are more than adequate. The sharing economy is the latest example of the Internet"s value to consumers. This emerging model is now big and disruptive enough for regulators and companies to have woken up to it. That is a sign of its immense potential. It is time to start caring about sharing.

Economic refugees have traditionally lined up to get into America. Lately, they have been lining up to leave. In the past few months, half a dozen biggish companies have announced plans to merge with foreign partners and in the process move their corporate homes abroad. The motive is simple; corporate taxes are lower in Ireland, Britain and, for that matter, almost everywhere else than they are in America. In Washington, D. C. , policymakers have reacted with indignation. Jack Lew, the treasury secretary, has questioned the companies' patriotism and called on Congress to outlaw such transactions. His fellow Democrats are eager to oblige, and some Republicans are willing to listen. The proposals are misguided. Tightening the rules on corporate "inversions" , as these moves are called, does nothing to deal with the reason why so many firms want to leave; America has the rich world's most dysfunctional corporate-tax system. It needs fundamental reform, not new complications. America's corporate tax has two horrible flaws. The first is the tax rate, which at 35% is the highest among the 34 mostly rich-country members of the OECD. Yet it raises less revenue than the OECD average thanks to countless loopholes and tax breaks aimed at everything from machinery investment to NASCAR race tracks. Last year these breaks cost $ 150 billion in forgone revenue, more than half of what America collected in total corporate taxes. The second flaw is that America levies tax on a company's income no matter where in the world it is earned. In contrast, every other large rich country taxes only income earned within its borders. Here, too, America's system is absurdly ineffective at collecting money. Firms do not have to pay tax on foreign profits until they bring them back home. Not surprisingly, many do not: American multinationals have some $ 2 trillion sitting on their foreign units' balance-sheets, and growing. All this imposes big costs on the economy. The high rate discourages investment and loopholes distort it, because decisions are driven by tax considerations rather than a project's economic merits. The tax rate companies actually pay varies wildly, depending on their type of business and the creativity of their lawyers; some pay close to zero, others the full 35%. But as other countries chopped their rates and America's stayed the same, the incentive to flee grew. A possible solution is to lower the corporate rate, eliminate tax breaks and move America from a worldwide system to a territorial one.

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

Read the following text and answer the questions by choosing the most suitable subheading from the list A-G for each of the numbered paragraphs(41-45). There are two extra subheadings which you do not need to use. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.(10 points) [A]Monitor your alcohol use [B]Pay attention to table manners [C]Don' t be a gossip [D]Network with higher-ups [E]Keep the conversation light [F]Dress appropriately [G]Make new friends For young workers, holiday parties can be a wonderful opportunity to celebrate a successful year gone by, catch up with colleagues and hobnob with senior executives to try to get ahead. But a host of challenges confront young employees—from figuring out whom to bring to walking the fine line between being friendly and being flirty. Some do' s and don' ts when it comes to these events: 【R1】______ If you're new to the company, talk to co-workers who have attended previous office functions to get a sense of what you should wear. Dress conservatively, not "like you're going to a club in Vegas, "says Tom Gimbel, CEO of staffing firm LaSalle Network in Chicago. But, he adds, don't take it "to the point where(you're)wearing a suit where everybody else is wearing jeans." 【R2】______ Steer clear of talking about those layoffs or pay freezes that have hit morale, experts advise. "Try to keep the conversation upbeat," says Barbara Pachter, president of Pachter & Associates, a business-etiquette and communications firm in Cherry Hill, N.J. "If you're merging, that could be an exciting thing,(or if)you're adding new product lines, that could be an exciting thing" to talk about. 【R3】______ While it's fun to indulge in rumors about colleagues, you don't want to be known as the person who' s always spreading juicy gossip. "You want to be known for your work ethic, you want to bei known for the work product that you put out, and at a holiday party, you don't want to be the one telling everybody who' s making out with whom and who' s fighting with whom," says Mr. Gimbel. Instead, he encourages people to stick to safe topics like sports, entertainment and what' s going on in the world. 【R4】______ Even if you're intimidated by the clique of VPs huddling in their own circle, don't pass up the opportunity to meet these people, who could be interviewing you when you' re up for your next promotion. Look for an opening to chime in on a topic that you know about. If they don't already know you, introduce yourself and say how long you've been with the company and what you do. Afterward, if you feel like you connected with someone senior, send them a follow-up email saying it was nice to meet them, says Ms. Pachter. "What have you got to lose? " 【R5】______ Holiday parties are one of the few workplace events where imbibing is allowed and even encouraged to get people relaxed. However, just because alcohol is free-flowing at the bar doesn't mean you should take that as a license to reprise your college frat parties. "Most people head toward the bar and the buffet when they get to a holiday party, and if they drink on an empty stomach they tend to get inebriated and then they could say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing," says Ms. Whitmore. "No.l rule is: Don't drink too much, monitor your alcohol intake. Usually, one or two drinks is plenty."

Suppose your friend Barbara is graduating from Yale University. Write her an email to 1) congratulate her, and 2) wish her good luck during her new career. You should write about 100 words. Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write your address.

Ever since Muzak started serenading patrons of hotels and restaurants in the 1930s, piped-in music has been part of the consumer experience. Without the throb of a synthesiser or a guitar's twang, shoppers would sense something missing as they tried on jeans or filled up trolleys. Specialists like Mood Media, which bought Muzak in 2011, devise audio programmes to influence the feel of shops and cater to customers' tastes. The idea is to entertain, and thereby prolong the time shoppers spend in stores, says Claude Nahon, the firm's international chief. Music by famous artists works better than the generic stuff that people associate with Muzak. The embarrassing brand name was dropped in 2013. Online shopping is an under-explored area of merchandising musicology. A new study commissioned by eBay, a shopping website, aims to correct that. Some 1,900 participants were asked to simulate online shopping while listening to different sounds. Some results were unsurprising. The noise of roadworks and crying babies soured shoppers' views of the products on offer. Chirruping birds encouraged sales of barbecues but not blenders or board games. Sounds associated with quality and luxury seemed to be hazardous for shoppers' wallets. The study found classical music and restaurant buzz caused them to overestimate the quality of goods on offer and to pay more than they should. That backs up earlier research which found that shoppers exposed to classical music in a wine store bought more expensive bottles than those hearing pop. EBay wants consumers to avoid such unhealthy influences when shopping online. It has blended birdsong, dreamy music and the sound of a rolling train—thought to be pleasant but not overly seductive—to help them buy more sensibly. Retailers could presumably counter by turning up the Chopin. "Classical music does seem to be the way to go" if your only interest is the narrow one of squeezing as much money as possible from your clientele, says the study's author, Patrick Fagan, a lecturer at Goldsmiths, part of the University of London. Few traditional shops are likely to use that tactic. H&M, a clothes retailer, airs "trendy, up-tempo" music from new artists, while Nespresso's coffee boutiques go for "lounge-y" sounds, says Mr. Nahon. Grocery stores, with a broad following, play top 40 hits. The tempo tends to be slower in the mornings, when shoppers are sparser and older, and becomes more quick and lively as the day goes on.

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]Control those who talk too much[B]Control time[C]Plan the meeting[D]Move the discussion along[E]Summarize at appropriate places[F]Follow the plan[G]Encourage participation from those who talk too little A key to conducting a successful meeting is to plan it thoroughly. That is, you develop an agenda by selecting the items that need to be covered to achieve the goals of the meeting. Then arrange these items in the most logical order. You can tailor an agenda to whatever will best help you accomplish your goals. 【R1】______ You should follow the plan for the meeting item by item. In most meetings the discussion tends to stray and new items tend to come up. As a leader, you should keep the discussion on track. If new items come up during the meeting, you can take them up at the end or perhaps postpone them for a future meeting. 【R2】______ As a leader, you should control the agenda. After one item has been covered, bring up the next item. When the discussion moves off subject, move it back on subject. In general, do what is needed to proceed through the items efficiently, but do not cut off discussion before all the important points have been made. You will have to use your good judgment. Your goal is to permit complete discussion on the one hand and to avoid repetition, excessive details, and off-topic comments on the other. 【R3】______ Keeping certain people from talking too much is likely to be one of your harder tasks. A few people usually tend to dominate the discussion. Your task as a leader is to control them. Of course, you want the meeting to be democratic, so you will need to let these people talk as long as they contribute to the goals of the meeting. However, when they begin to stray, duplicate, or bring in irrelevant matter, you should step in. You can do this tactfully by asking for other viewpoints or by summarizing the discussion and moving on to the next topic. 【R4】______ Just as some people talk too much, some talk too little. In business groups, those who say little are often in positions lower than those of other group members. Your job as a leader is to encourage these people to participate by asking them for their viewpoints and by showing respect for the comments they make. 【R5】______ When your meeting time is limited, you need to determine in advance how much time will be needed to cover each item. Then, at appropriate times, you should end discussion of the items. You may find it helpful to announce the time goals at the beginning of the meeting and to remind the group members of the time status during the meeting.

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

Many people take to social media to share news of big events. On December 1st Facebook's boss, Mark Zuckerberg, followed in the tradition he helped create, when he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, announced the birth of their daughter on the social-networking site, along with news that they will give away the majority of their fortune during their lifetimes. Around 99% of the shares they own in Facebook, which today are worth around $ 45 billion, will go into the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI). Their aim, they wrote, is to improve the world for their daughter and future generations. For now, the move allows Mr. Zuckerberg to relinquish wealth, but not control, as he will retain the votes associated with any shares transferred to CZI. He anticipates remaining the controlling stakeholder of Facebook " for the foreseeable future" , and plans to sell, or give away, no more than $ 1 billion of Facebook stock each year for the next three years. Mr. Zuckerberg is far from the first tech titan to pledge billions to philanthropic activities, but he is following a slightly different path to Bill Gates, Microsoft's founder. Whereas the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a registered charity, the Zuckerbergs' CZI will be a limited liability company ( LLC ). Although charitable status comes with alluring tax breaks, strings are attached. Unlike charities, LLCs can lobby without restriction; the Zuckerbergs have said that CZI will get involved in policy debates. The other flexibility LLC status allows is the freedom to invest in for-profit ventures that have a big social impact. In this, the Zuckerbergs are following in the footsteps of Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay, an online marketplace, who grew frustrated by the constraints of charitable status. Mr. Omidyar now oversees the Omidyar Network, which has for-profit and non-profit arms. Will Fitzpatrick, designer of this hybrid structure, claims that the for-profit arm can more easily invest in things that can be scaled up quickly. He gives the example of an investment in a solar lantern that cost less than $ 10 a unit, which meant people did not have to burn dangerous kerosene, and which he says would have been technically difficult to achieve through a private foundation.

Do you wake up every day feeling too tired, or even upset? If so, then a new alarm clock could be just for you. The clock, called SleepSmart, measures your sleep cycle, and waits【C1】______ you to be in your lightest phase of sleep【C2】______ rousing you. Its makers say that should【C3】______ you wake up feeling refreshed every morning. As you sleep you pass【C4】______ a sequence of sleep states—light sleep, deep sleep and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep—that【C5】______ approximately every 90 minutes. The point in that cycle at which you wake can【C6】______ how you feel later, and may【C7】______ have a greater impact than how much or little you have slept. Being roused during a light phase【C8】______ you are more likely to wake up energetic. SleepSmart【C9】______ the distinct pattern of brain waves【C10】______ during each phase of sleep, via a headband equipped【C11】______ electrodes (电极) and a microprocessor. This measures the electrical activity of the wearer's brain, in much the【C12】______ way as some machines used for medical and research【C13】______ , and communicates wirelessly with a clock unit near the bed. You【C14】______ the clock with the latest time at【C15】______ you want to be wakened, and it【C16】______ duly(适时地) wakes you during the last light sleep phase before that. The【C17】______ was invented by a group of students at Brown University in Rhode Island【C18】______ a friend complained of waking up tired and performing poorly on a test.''【C19】______ sleep-deprived people ourselves, we started thinking of【C20】______ to do about it," says Eric Shashoua, a recent college graduate and now chief executive officer of Axon Sleep Research Laboratories, a company created by the students to develop their idea.

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.