Li Jiang: Have you heard this? A group of exchange students from the UK are visiting our school next month.
Su Hua: Yes, I have. Some are already recommending the traditional Chinese dress for the welcome ceremony.
Li Jiang: But it seems people have different opinions.
Su Hua: What do you think?
Li Jiang: I think it’s a good idea. It’s an opportunity to make the Chinese culture better known to international students.
Su Hua: I agree. But we don’t have to dress that way. That’s not our daily style. Besides, it’s not very convenient.
Li Jiang: You see, it’s the Chinese culture that the British friends are coming for. Just the right occasion.
Su Hua: I prefer the school uniform. It’s nice. It’s also a better display of our school culture.
【写作内容】
1. 用约30个词概括上述信息的主要内容；
2. 在上述场合，你是否倾向于穿中国传统服装？请说明理由(不少于两点)。
【写作要求】
1. 写作过程中不能直接引用原文语句；
2. 作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称；
3. 不必写标题。
【评分标准】
内容完整，语言规范，语篇连贯，词数适当。
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注意：请将答案写在答题卡上相应题号的横线上。每个空格只填一个单词。
The Cost of Thinking
Despite their many differences, all human beings share several defining characteristics, such as large brains and the ability to walk upright on two legs.
The first unique human characteristic is that humans have extraordinarily large brains compared with other animals. It seems obvious that evolution should select for larger brains. Mammals(哺乳动物) weighing sixty kilograms have an average brain size of 200 cm2. Modern man has a brain averaging 1200-1400 cm2. We are so fond of our high intelligence that we assume that when it comes to brain power, more must be better. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
The fact is that a huge brain is a huge drain—consumption of energy—on the body. It’s not easy to carry around, especially when boxed inside a massive skull(倾骨). It’s even harder to provide energy. In modern man, the brain accounts for about 2-3% of total body weight, but it consumes 25% of the body’s energy when the body is at rest. By comparison, the brains of apes(类人猿) require only 8% of rest-time energy. Early humans paid for their large brains in two ways. Firstly, they spent more time in search of food. Secondly, their muscles grew smaller and weaker. It’s hardly an obvious conclusion that this is a good way to survive. A chimpanzee(黑猩猩) can’t win an argument with a modern man, but it can tear the man apart like a rag doll.
Another unique human characteristic is that we walk upright. Standing up, it’s easier to find food or enemies. In addition, their arms that are unnecessary for moving around are freed for other purposes, like throwing stones or signaling. As a result, humans can perform very complex tasks with their hands.
Yet walking upright has its disadvantage. The bone structure of our ancestors developed for millions of years to support a creature that walked on all fours and has a relatively small head. Adjusting to an upright position was quite a challenge, especially when the bones had to support an extra-large skull. Humankind paid for its broad vision and skillful hands backaches and painful necks.
We assume that a large brain makes huge advantages. It seems obvious that these have made humankind the most powerful animal on earth. But humans enjoyed all of these advantages for a full 2 million years during which they remained weak and marginal creatures. Thus humans who lived a million years ago, despite their big brains and sharp stone tools, lived in constant fear of meat-eating animals.
The Cost of Thinking | |
Introduction | • Large brains for their bodies and the ability to walk upright are two |
The | • The larger brains may not be better because of the cost. • The big brains make it harder for the body to move around and consume more energy. • The animal brain requires less • Large human brains consume more food, and weaken muscles. |
The | • Walking upright makes it easy to find food or • Freed hands can serve some |
| • Walking upright challenges the human bone structure, and • Walking upright results in | |
Conclusion | • With a large brain, human beings • Weak and marginal, human beings remained |
【写作内容】
1. 用约30个词概括上述利用排名（ratings）进行消费的现象；
2. 谈谈你如何看待消费排名，然后用2-3个理由或论据支撑你的看法。
【写作要求】
1. 写作过程中不能直接引用原文语句；
2. 作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称；
3. 不必写标题。
【评分标准】
内容完整，语言规范，语篇连贯，词数适当。
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—Didn’t you know his secretary leaked the secret report to the press?
| A．be over the moon | B．laugh his head off |
| C．be all ears | D．fly off the handle |
注意：请将答案写在答题卡上相应题号的横线上。每个空格只填一个单词。
How Arts Promote Our Economy
When most people think of the arts, they imagine the end product, the beautiful painting, a wonderful piece of music, or an award-winning performance in the theater. But arts groups bring broader value to our communities. The economic impact of the arts is often overlooked and badly judged.
The arts create jobs that help develop the economy. Any given performance takes a tour bus full of artists, technical experts, managers, musicians, or writers to create an appealing piece of art. These people earn a living wage for their professional knowledge and skills.
Another group of folks is needed to help market the event. “If you build it they will come” is a misleading belief. Painters, digital media experts, photographers, booking agents and promoters are hired to sell tickets and promote the event. According to the Dallas Area Cultural Advocacy Coalition, arts agencies employ more than 10,000 people as full-or part-time employees or independent contractors.
A successful arts neighborhood creates a ripple effect（连锁反应）throughout a community. In 2005, when the Bishop Arts Theatre was donated to our town, the location was considered a poor area of town. After investing more than $1 million in reconstructing the building, we began producing a full season of theater performances, jazz concerts, and year-round arts education programs in 2008. Nearly 40 percent of jazz lovers live outside of the Dallas city limits and drive or fly in to enjoy an evening in the Bishop Arts District.
No doubt the theater has contributed to the area’s development and economic growth. Today, there are galleries, studios, restaurants and newly built work spaces where neighbors share experiences, where there is renewed life and energy. In this way, arts and culture also serve as a public good.
TeCo Theatrical Productions Inc. made use of Bloomberg’s investment of $35,000 to get nearly $400,000 in public and private sector support during the two-year period. Further, Dallas arts and arts-based businesses produce $298 for every dollar the city spends on arts programming and facilities. In Philadelphia, a metro area smaller than Dallas, the arts have an economic impact of almost $3 million and support 44,000 jobs, 80 percent of which actually lie outside the arts industry, including accountants, marketers, construction workers, hotel managers, printers, and other kinds of art workers.
The arts are efficient economic drivers and when they are supported, the entire small-business community benefits.
It is wrong to assume arts groups cannot make a profit. But in order to stay in business, arts groups must produce returns. If you are a student studying the arts, chances are you have been ill-advised to have a plan B. But those who truly understand the economic impact and can work to change the patterns can create a wide range of career possibilities.
Arts as an economic driver | Our communities |
Arts activity demands a(n) ★Artists make a living through their creative work. ★Others get paid by marketing the event. | |
Arts have a gradually spreading ★Besides tickets, some jazz lovers will pay their ★Arts contribute to cultural development when people gather together to share their experience and renew their energy. | |
Investment in arts could produce potential ★TeCo used a $35,000 art investment to attract an overall support of $400,000. ★In Dallas, one dollar invested in arts could harvest and extraordinary return of nearly $300. ★In Philadelphia the arts have created about 35,000 job opportunities for workers | |
Art students making a good living | With these |
—Oh, _______ You’re kidding.
| A．so what? | B．go ahead. |
| C．come on. | D．what for? |
7 . 请认真阅读下面短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入
注意：请将答案写在答题卡上相应题号的横线上。每个空格只填一个单词。
Population Change
Why is the world’s population growing? The answer is not what you might think. The reason for the explosion is not that people have been reproducing like rabbits, but that people have stopped dropping dead like flies. In 1900, people died at the average age of 30. By 2000 the average age was 65. But while increasing health was a typical feature of the 20th century, declining birth rate could be a defining one of the 21st.
Statistics show that the average number of births per woman has fallen from 4.9 in the early 1960s to 2.5 nowadays. Furthermore, around 50% of the world’s population live in regions where the figure is now below the replacement level (i.e. 2.1 births per woman) and almost all developed nations are experiencing sub-replacement birth rate. You might think that developing nations would make up the loss (especially since 80% of the world’s people now live in such nations), but you’d be wrong. Declining birth rate is a major problem in many developing regions too, which might cause catastrophic global shortages of work force within a few decades.
A great decline in young work force is likely to occur in China, for instance. What does it imply? First, China needs to undergo rapid economic development before a population decline hits the country. Second, if other factors such as technology remain constant, economic growth and material expectations will fall well below recent standards and this could invite trouble.
Russia is another country with population problems that could break its economic promise. Since 1992 the number of people dying has been bigger than that of those being born by a massive 50%. Indeed official figures suggest the country has shrunk by 5% since 1993 and people in Russia live a shorter life now than those in 1961. Why is this occurring? Nobody is quite sure, but poor diet and above all long-time alcoholism have much to do with it. If current trends don’t bend, Russia’s population will be about the size of Yemen’s by the year 2050.
In the north of India, the population is booming due to high birth rates, but in the south, where most economic development is taking place, birth rate is falling rapidly. In a further twist, birth rate is highest in poorly educated rural areas and lowest in highly educated urban areas. In total, 25% of India’s working-age population has no education. In 2030, a sixth of the country’s potential work force could be totally uneducated.
One solution is obviously to import foreign workers via immigration. As for the USA, it is almost unique among developed nations in having a population that is expected to grow by 20% from 2010—2030. Moreover, the USA has a track record of successfully accepting immigrants. As a result it’s likely to see a rise in the size of its working-age population and to witness strong economic growth over the longer term.
71
8 . For a long time Gabriel didn’t want to be involved in music at all. In his first years of high school, Gabriel would look pityingly at music students,
This
| A．travelling | B．marching | C．pacing | D．struggling |
| A．rising up | B．coming up | C．driving up | D．turning up |
| A．before | B．after | C．until | D．since |
| A．betray | B．accept | C．avoid | D．appreciate |
| A．Therefore | B．However | C．Thus | D．Moreover |
| A．part | B．nature | C．basis | D．spirit |
| A．complicated | B．safe | C．confusing | D．easy |
| A．missed | B．disliked | C．enjoyed | D．denied |
| A．transparent | B．obvious | C．false | D．similar |
| A．run | B．jogged | C．jumped | D．wandered |
| A．because | B．but | C．though | D．so |
| A．ear | B．taste | C．heart | D．voice |
| A．occurred to | B．took to | C．appealed to | D．held to |
| A．change | B．chance | C．mission | D．function |
| A．seriously | B．proudly | C．casually | D．naturally |
| A．committed | B．used | C．limited | D．admitted |
| A．proved | B．showed | C．stressed | D．meant |
| A．pushing | B．dragging | C．lifting | D．rushing |
| A．admiring | B．pitying | C．annoying | D．teasing |
| A．over | B．aside | C．behind | D．out |
9 . Old problem，new approaches
While clean energy is increasingly used in our daily life，global warming will continue for some decades after CO2 emissions (排放) peak. So even if emissions were to begin to decrease today，we would still face the challenge of adapting to climate change. Here I will stress some smarter and more creative examples of climate adaptation.
When it comes to adaptation，it is important to understand that climate change is a process. We are therefore not talking about adapting to a new standard，but to a constantly shifting set of conditions. This is why, in part at least，the US National Climate Assessment says that：“There is no ‘onesize fits all’ adaptation.” Nevertheless，there are some actions that offer much and carry little risk or cost.
Around the world, people are adapting in surprising ways，especially in some poor countries. Floods have become more damaging in Bangladesh in recent decades. Mohammed Rezwan saw opportunity where others saw only disaster. His notforprofit organization runs 100 river boats that serve as floating libraries，schools，and health clinics，and are equipped with solar panels and other communicating facilities. Rezwan is creating floating connectivity(连接) to replace flooded roads and highways. But he is also working at a far more fundamental level：his staff show people how to make floating gardens and fish ponds to prevent starvation during the wet season.
Elsewhere in Asia even more astonishing actions are being taken. Chewang Norphel lives in a mountainous region in India, where he is known as the Ice Man. The loss of glaciers (冰川) there due to global warming represents an enormous threat to agriculture. Without the glaciers, water will arrive in the rivers at times when it can damage crops. Norphel's inspiration came from seeing the waste of water over winter, when it was not needed. He directed the wasted water into shallow basins where it froze, and was stored until the spring. His fields of ice supply perfectly timed irrigation(灌溉) water. Having created nine such ice reserves, Norphel calculates that he has stored about 200，000m3 of water. Climate change is a continuing process, so Norphel's ice reserves will not last forever. Warming will overtake them. But he is providing a few years during which the farmers will, perhaps, be able to find other means of adapting.
Increasing Earth's reflectiveness can cool the planet. In southern Spain the sudden increase of greenhouses (which reflect light back to space) has changed the warming trend locally, and actually cooled the region. While Spain as a whole is heating up quickly, temperatures near the greenhouses have decreased. This example should act as an inspiration for all cities. By painting buildings white, cities may slow down the warming process.
In Peru, local farmers around a mountain with a glacier that has already fallen victim to climate change have begun painting the entire mountain peak white in the hope that the added reflectiveness will restore the lifegiving ice. The outcome is still far from clear. But the World Bank has included the project on its list of “100 ideas to save the planet”．
More ordinary forms of adaptation are happening everywhere. A friend of mine owns an area of land in western Victoria. Over five generations the land has been too wet for cropping. But during the past decade declining rainfall has allowed him to plant highly profitable crops. Farmers in many countries are also adapting like this—either by growing new produce, or by growing the same things differently. This is common sense. But some suggestions for adapting are not. When the polluting industries argue that we've lost the battle to control carbon pollution and have no choice but to adapt, it's a nonsense designed to make the case for business as usual.
Human beings will continue to adapt to the changing climate in both ordinary and astonishing ways. But the most sensible form of adaptation is surely to adapt our energy systems to emit less carbon pollution. After all, if we adapt in that way, we may avoid the need to change in so many others.
1. The underlined part in Paragraph 2 implies ________．| A．adaptation is an everchanging process |
| B．the cost of adaptation varies with time |
| C．global warming affects adaptation forms |
| D．adaptation to climate change is challenging |
| A．The project receives government support. |
| B．Different organizations work with each other. |
| C．His organization makes the best of a bad situation. |
| D．The project connects flooded roads and highways. |
| A．Storing ice for future use. |
| B．Protecting the glaciers from melting. |
| C．Changing the irrigation time. |
| D．Postponing the melting of the glaciers. |
| A．White paint is usually safe for buildings. |
| B．The global warming trend cannot be stopped. |
| C．This country is heating up too quickly. |
| D．Sunlight reflection may relieve global warming. |
| A．adapt to carbon pollution |
| B．plant highly profitable crops |
| C．leave carbon emission alone |
| D．fight against carbon pollution |
| A．Setting up a new standard. |
| B．Reducing carbon emission. |
| C．Adapting to climate change. |
| D．Monitoring polluting industries. |
10 . A new commodity brings about a highly profitable, fast-growing industry, urging antitrust(反垄断) regulators to step in to check those who control its flow. A century ago, the resource in question was oil. Now similar concerns are being raised by the giants(巨头) that deal in data, the oil of the digital age. The most valuable firms are Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft. All look unstoppable.
Such situations have led to calls for the tech giants to be broken up. But size alone is not a crime. The giants’ success has benefited consumers. Few want to live without search engines or a quick delivery. Far from charging consumers high prices, many of these services are free (users pay, in effect, by handing over yet more data). And the appearance of new-born giants suggests that newcomers can make waves, too.
But there is cause for concern. The internet has made data abundant, all-present and far more valuable, changing the nature of data and competition. Google initially used the data collected from users to target advertising better. But recently it has discovered that data can be turned into new services: translation and visual recognition, to be sold to other companies. Internet companies’ control of data gives them enormous power. So they have a "God’s eye view" of activities in their own markets and beyond.
This nature of data makes the antitrust measures of the past less useful. Breaking up firms like Google into five small ones would not stop remaking themselves: in time, one of them would become great again. A rethink is required — and as a new approach starts to become apparent, two ideas stand out.
The first is that antitrust authorities need to move from the industrial age into the 21st century. When considering a merger(兼并), for example, they have traditionally used size to determine when to step in. They now need to take into account the extent of firms’ data assets(资产) when assessing the impact of deals. The purchase price could also be a signal that an established company is buying a new-born threat. When this takes place, especially when a new-born company has no revenue to speak of, the regulators should raise red flags.
The second principle is to loosen the control that providers of on-line services have over data and give more to those who supply them. Companies could be forced to reveal to consumers what information they hold and how much money they make from it. Governments could order the sharing of certain kinds of data, with users’ consent.
Restarting antitrust for the information age will not be easy. But if governments don’t want a data economy controlled by a few giants, they must act soon.
1. Why is there a call to break up giants?| A．They have controlled the data market. |
| B．They collect enormous private data. |
| C．They no longer provide free services. |
| D．They dismissed some new-born giants. |
| A．Data giants’ technology is very expensive. |
| B．Google’s idea is popular among data firms. |
| C．Data can strengthen giants’ controlling position. |
| D．Data can be turned into new services or products. |
| A．kill a new threat |
| B．avoid the size trap |
| C．favour bigger firms |
| D．charge higher prices |
| A．Big companies could relieve data security pressure. |
| B．Governments could relieve their financial pressure. |
| C．Consumers could better protect their privacy. |
| D．Small companies could get more opportunities. |
