I’m sorry to hear that your eyesight has been declining.

Yours sincerely,

Li Jin

4 . Countries around the globe are spending billions of dollars and lots of time on various space missions, whether to Mars or other planets much further away. Some people argue that we should stop wasting time and money exploring space. Instead, we should feed the world’s poor and find immediate solutions to other problems, such as pollution and fatal diseases (致命疾病). However, others feel this is a shallow view which fails to realise how exploring space helps us.

Firstly, exploring space has already made a difference in the fight against world hunger. It has directly resulted in the many satellites that now orbit Earth. A number of the satellites record data on land and weather patterns. Then the data is transmitted (传送) to scientists on Earth. After careful analysis, the scientists can provide useful recommendations and advice for farmers. As a result, space-based science has helped farming in its efforts to grow enough food to feed Earth’s increasing population.

Secondly, space exploration has already promoted technological improvements that benefit us all. High-end products around the world are made to a higher standard now because of advanced technology which was first created to meet the requirements for space exploration. For example, space technologies have helped the research and development of different types of new material. They have also helped companies make better heart monitors and other machines that doctors regularly use. Today, space technologies are widely used in all kinds of industries, and everyday products such as GPS, memory foam pillows (记忆棉枕头), and smartphone cameras are changing our lives.

Finally, sending astronauts into space has helped people to think about the world’s problems and even to find ways to solve them. Seeing pictures of our planet as an island in a black sea made people realise that our planet’s resources are limited. In order to provide for such a rapidly increasing population, scientists are trying to find other planets that could one day be our new home. The greatest attention at present is on Mars because it is closer to Earth. In the future, humans may live on both planets.

In closing, exploring space provides the world with many different benefits. Therefore, it should continue so as to provide new and better solutions to people’s short-term and long-term problems.

8 . Foreign visitors to the UK might be disappointed when they learn that not everyone there speaks like Harry Potter and his friends. Usually, there’s an assumption by many non-Brits that everyone in Britain speaks with what’s known as a Received Pronunciation (RP，标准发音) accent, also called “the Queen’s English”. However, while many people do talk this way, most Britons speak in their own regional accents (口音).

Scouse, Glaswegian and Black Country — from Liverpool, Glasgow and the West Midlands — are just three of the countless non-RP accents that British people speak with. There are even differences in accents between towns or cities just 30 kilometers apart. What is even more disappointing is that not speaking in a RP accent may mean a British person is judged and even treated differently in their everyday life.

In a 2015 study by The University of South Wales, videos of people reading a passage in three different UK accents were shown to a second group of people. The group then rated how intelligent they thought the readers sounded. The lowestrated accent was Brummie, native to people from Birmingham, a city whose accent is considered working class.

However, there is no need to be disappointed though you are not speaking in a RP accent. In fact, doing the opposite may even give you strength.

Kong Seongjae, 25, is an Internet celebrity from Seoul. After studying in the UK, he picked up several regional accents. He’s now famous for his online videos, where he shows off the various accents he’s learned. “British people usually get really excited when I use some of their local dialect words, and they become much friendlier. I think it makes a bit of bond between local people and foreigners to speak in their local accent,” he said.

So if you’re working on perfecting your British accent, try to speak like someone from Liverpool, Glasgow or Birmingham. You may not sound like Harry Potter, but you are likely to make more friends.

10 . 阅读短文，并按照题目要求用英语回答问题。

You’ve got to know your own value, know what you want, and stick with it. That’s what T. McDowell’s advice to others is, and it’s certainly worked for him. This high school senior is currently the owner of Immersion Imaging, a successful company specializing in Internet commerce solutions and online financial databases.

McDowell launched the company in 2012, which was originally called 4th Dimension Graphics. Two years later, it was recognized as Immersion Imaging. Surprisingly, he didn’t begin the company with the assistance of any partner, but instead founded it on his own with the experience and contacts that he already had.

“It’s always been a one - person operation. I could easily take on partners or scale up the business some more, but I want to keep it this way for now,” McDowell said. I don’t lack any contracts right now. I like it because it’s flexible, so that if I need more income, I can do more; and if I take a break for a while, I don’t have any problems.” If McDowell spends between 30 and 60 hours a week working, Immersion Imaging will offer him a steady income.

Part of the reason why McDowell ended up in the computer industry might be explained by the exposure he had as a child. However, he spends his free time on more than just computers. His real interest lies in aviation. With his business spirit and success, McDowell won’t have a problem realizing his dreams of the sky one day

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________