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Section Ⅰ Use of English
Directions：
Read the followingtext。Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blankand
Mark A,B,C or D ANANSWERSHEET 1.(10 points)
In our contemporaryculture, the prospect of communicating with -- or even
looking at – a strangeris virtually unbearable. Everyone around us seems to agree by the way theyfiddle with their phones, even without a 1 underground.
It's a sad reality--our desire to avoid interacting with other human beings -- because there's 2 tobe gained from talking to the stranger standing by you.
But you wouldn't know it, 3 intoyour phone. This universal armor sends the 4 : "Please don' tapproach me."
What is it that makes us feel we needto hide 5 our screens?
One answer is fear, according to JonWortmann, executive mental coach. We fear
rejection, or that our innocentsocial advances will be 6 as "creepy,". We fear
we'll be 7 . We fear we'll bedisruptive. Strangers are inherently 8 to us, so
we are more likely to feel 9 whencommunicating with them compared with our friends and acquaintances. To avoid thisanxiety, we 10 to our phones. "Phonesbecome our security blanket," Wortmann says. "They are our happyglasses that protect us from what we perceiveis going to be more 11 ."
But once we rip offthe band aid, tuck our smart phones in our pockets and look
up, it doesn't 12 so bad. In one2011 experiment, behavioral scientists Nicholas Epley and Juliana Schroeder asked commutersto do the unthinkable: Start a 13 .They had Chicago train commuters talk to their fellow 14 . "When Dr.Epley and Ms. Schroeder asked other people inthe same train station to 15 how theywould feel after talking to a stranger, the commuters thought their 16 would be more pleasant if they sat on theirown," the New York Times summarizes. Thoughthe participants didn't expect a positive experience, after they 17 withthe experiment, "not a single personreported having been snubbed."
18 , these commutes were reportedlymore enjoyable compared with those sans communication, which makes absolute sense, 19human beings thrive off of socialconnections. It's that 20 : Talking to strangers can make you feel connected.
1. [A] ticket [B]permit[C] signal [D] record
2. [A] nothing [B]link[C] another [D] much
3. [A] beaten[B]guided [C] plugged[D] brought
4. [A] message [B] cede[C]notice [D] sign
5. [A] under [B] beyond[C] behind [D] from
6. [A] misinterpreted [B]misapplied [C] misadjusted [D] mismatched
7. [A] fired [B] judged[C] replaced [D]delayed
8. [A] unreasonable[B]ungrateful [C] unconventional [D] unfamiliar
9. [A] comfortable [B]anxious [C] confident [D]angry
10. [A] attend[B]point [C] take [D] turn
11. [A] dangerous [B]mysterious[C] violent [D] boring
12. [A] hurt [B] resist[C] bend[D] decay
13. [A] lecture [B]conversation [C] debate[D] negotiation
14. [A] trainees[B]employees [C] researchers [D]passengers
15. [A] reveal[B]choose [C] predict[D] design
16. [A] voyage[B]flight [C] walk [D] ride
17. [A] went through[B] did away[C] caught up [D] put up
18. [A] In turn [B]Inparticular [C] In fact[D] In consequence
19. [A] unless [B]since [C] if [D] whereas
20. [A] funny [B]simple [C] logical [D]rare
Section II Reading Comprehension
Part A
Directions:
Read the followingfour texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A,B, C or D. Markyour answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)
Text 1
A new studysuggests that contrary to most surveys, people are actually more
stressed at home that at work.Researchers measured people’s cortisol, which is
stress marker, while they were atwork and while they were at home and found it
higher at what is supposed to be aplace of refuge.
“Furthercontradicting conventional wisdom, we found that women as well as
men have lower levels of stress atwork than at home,” writes one of the
researchers, Sarah Damaske. In factwomen even say they feel better at work, she notes, “It is men, not women, whoreport being happier at home than at work.” Another surprise is thatthe findings hold true for both those with children and without, but more so for nonparents. This is whypeople who work outside the
home have better health.
What the study doesn’t measure iswhether people are still doing work when they’re at home,whether it is household work or work brought home from the office. For many men, the end of the workday is atime to kick back. For women who stayhome, they never get to leave the office. And for women who work outside the home, they often are playingcatch-up-with-household tasks. With the blurringof roles, and the fact that the home front lags well behind the workplace inmaking adjustments for working women, it’s notsurprising that women are more stressedat home.
But it’s not just a gender thing. Atwork, people pretty much know what they’re supposed to be doing: working, making money,doing the tasks they have to do inorder to draw an income. The bargain is very pure: Employee puts in hoursof physical or mental labor and employee drawsout life-sustaining moola.
On the home front, however, peoplehave no such clarity. Rare is the household in which the division oflabor is so clinically and methodically laid out. There are a lot of tasks to be done, there are inadequaterewards for most of them. Your home colleagues-your family- have no clear rewards for their labor; they need to be talked into it, or if they’re teenagers, threatenedwith complete removal of all electronicdevices. Plus, they’re your family. You cannot fire your family. You neverreally get to go home from home.
So it’s not surprising that people aremore stressed at home. Not only are the tasks apparently infinite,the co- workers are much harder to motivate.
21. According to Paragraph1, most previous surveys found that home_______
[A] was anunrealistic place for relaxation
[B] generated more stressthan the workplace
[C] was an idealplace for stress measurement
[D] offered greater relaxation than the workplace
22. According to Damaske,who are likely to be the happiest at home?
[A] Working mothers
[B] Childless husbands
[C] Childless wives
[D] Working fathers
23. The blurring ofworking women’s roles refers to the fact thay_______
[A] they are both breadwinners and housewives
[B] their home isalso a place for kicking back
[C] there is oftenmuch housework left behind
[D] it is difficultfor them to leave their office
24. The word“moola”(Line 4, Para 4) most probably means_______
[A] energy
[B] skills
[C] earnings
[D] nutrition
25. The home front differsfrom the workplace in that_______
[A] home is hardlya cozier working environment
[B] division of labor at home is seldom clear-cut
[C] household tasksare generally more motivating
[D] family labor isoften adequately rewarded
Text2
For years, studieshave found that first-generation college students- those who
do not have a parent with a collegedegree- lag other students on a range of
education achievement factors.Their grades are lower and their dropout rates are
higher. But since such students aremost likely to advance economically if they
succeed in higher education,colleges and universities have pushed for decades to
recruit more of them. This hascreated “a paradox” in that recruiting first generation students, but then watchingmany of them fail, means that higher education has “continued to reproduce and widen,rather than close” ab achievement gapbased on social class, according to the depressing beginning of a paper forthcoming in the journal PsychologicalScience.
But the article is actuallyquite optimistic, as it outlines a potential solution to this problem, suggesting thatan approach (which involves a one-hour, next-to-no-cost program) can close 63percent of the achievement gap(measured by such factors as grades)between first-generation and other students.
The authors of the paperare from different universities, and their findings are based on a study involving147 students ( who completed the project) at an
unnamed private university. Firstgeneration was defined as not having a parent
with a four-year college degree.Most of the first-generation students(59.1 percent)
were recipients of Pell Grants, afederal grant for undergraduates with financial
need, while this was true only for8.6 percent of the students wit at least one parent
with a four-year degree.
Their thesis- thatare relatively modest intervention could have a big impact- was based on the viewthat first-generation students may be most lacking not in
potential but in practicalknowledge about how to deal with the issues that face
most college students. They citepast research by several authors to show that this is the gap that must benarrowed to close the achievement gap.
Many first-generation students “struggle to navigate the middle-class culture of higher education,learn the ‘rules of the game,’ and take advantage of college
resources,” they write. And thisbecomes more of a problem when collages don’t talk about the class advantageand disadvantages of different groups of students.
Because US colleges and universitiesseldom acknowledge how social class can affect students’educational experience, many first-generation students lack sight
about why they are struggling anddo not understand how students’ like them can improve.
26. Recruiting morefirst- generation students has_______
[A] reduced their dropoutrates
[B] narrowed the achievementgao
[C] missed its original purpose
[D] depressedcollege students
27. The author ofthere search article are optimistic because_______
[A] the problem is solvable
[B] their approachis costless
[C] the recruitingrate has increased
[D] their finding appealto students
28. The studysuggests that most first- generation students______
[A] study atprivate universities
[B] are from single-parentfamilies
[C] are in need of financial support
[D] have failedtheir collage
29. The author ofthe paper believe that first-generation students_______
[A] are actually indifferentto the achievement gap
[B] can have a potentialinfluence on other students
[C] may lack opportunitiesto apply for research projects
[D] are inexperienced in handling their issues atcollege
30. We may inferfrom the last paragraph that_______
[A] universitiesoften reject the culture of the middle-class
[B] students are usuallyto blame for their lack of resources
[C] social class greatlyhelps enrich educational experiences
[D] colleges are partly responsible for the problem inquestion
Text3
Even in traditional offices, “the linguafranca of corporate America has gotten much more emotional andmuch more right-brained than it was 20 years ago,”
said Harvard Business Schoolprofessor Nancy Koehn. She started spinning off
examples. “If you and I parachutedback to Fortune 500 companies in 1990, we would see much less frequentuse of terms like journey, mission, passion. There were goals, there were strategies, there wereobjectives, but we didn’t talk about
energy; we didn’t talk aboutpassion.”
Koehn pointed outthat this new era of corporate vocabulary is very “team”-oriented—andnot by coincidence. “Let’s not forget sports—in male-dominated corporate America, it’s still a big deal. It’s notexplicitly
conscious; it’s the idea that I’m acoach, and you’re my team, and we’re in this together. There are lots and lotsof CEOs in very different companies, but most think of themselves as coachesand this is their team and they want to win.”
These terms arealso intended to infuse work with meaning—and, as Khurana
points out, increase allegiance tothe firm. “You have the importation of
terminology that historically usedto be associated with non-profit organizations
and religious organizations: Termslike vision, values, passion, and purpose,” said
Khurana.
This new focus on personalfulfillment can help keep employees motivated amid increasingly loud debatesover work-life balance. The “mommy wars” of the 1990s are still going on today, prompting arguments about why womenstill can’t have it all and books likeSheryl Sandberg’s Lean In, whose title has become a buzzword in its own right. Terms like unplug,offline, life-hack, bandwidth, and capacityare all about setting boundaries between the office and the home. But ifyour work is your “passion,” you’ll be morelikely to devote yourself to it, even if
that means going home for dinnerand then working long after the kids are in bed.
But this seems to be the irony ofoffice speak: Everyone makes fun of it, but
managers love it, companies dependon it, and regular people willingly absorb it.
As Nunberg said, “You can getpeople to think it’s nonsense at the same time that you buy into it.”In a workplace that’s fundamentally indifferent to your life and its meaning, office speak can help you figureout how you relate to your
work—and how your work defines whoyou are.
31. According toNancy Koehn, office language has become_____
[A] more emotional
[B] more objective
[C] less energetic
[D] less strategic
32. “team”-orientedcorporate vocabulary is closely related to_______
[A] historical incidents
[B] genderdifference
[C] sports culture
[D] athleticexecutives
33.Khurana believesthat the importation of terminology aims to______
[A] revivehistorical terms
[B] promote companyimage
[C] fostercorporate cooperation
[D] strengthen employee loyalty
34.It can beinferred that Lean In________
[A] voices for workingwomen
[B] appeals top passionateworkaholics
[C] triggers debatesamong mommies
[D] praisesmotivated employees
35.Which of the followingstatements is true about office speak?
[A] Managers admireit but avoid it
[B] Linguistsbelieve it to be nonsense
[C] Companies find it to be fundamental
[D] Regular peoplemock it but accept it
Text 4
Many people talkedof the 288,000 new jobs the Labor Department reported for
June, along with the drop in theunemployment rate to 6.1 percent, as good news.
And they were right. For now itappears the economy is creating jobs at a decent
pace. We still have along way to goto get back to full employment, but at least we are now finally moving forwardat a faster pace.
However, there is anotherimportant part of the jobs picture that was largely
overlooked. There was a big jump inthe number of people who report voluntarily
working part-time. This figure isnow 830,000(4.4 percent) above its year ago level.
Before explaining the connectionto the Obama care, it is worth making an importantdistinction. Many people who work part-time jobs actually want full-timejobs. They take part-time work because this isall they can get. time workis evidence of weakness in the labor market and it means that many people willbe having a very hard time making ends meet.
There was an increase in involuntary part-time in
An increase in involuntary part-time inJune, but the general direction has been down. Involuntary part-time employment is still far higher than beforethe recession, but it is down by 640,000(7.9percent)from its year ago level.
We know thedifference between voluntary and involuntary part-time employment because people tellus. The survey used by the Labor Department asks people if
they worked less than35 hours inthe reference week. If the answer is “yes,” they
are classified as workingpart-time. They survey then asks whether they worked less
than 35 hours in that week becausethey wanted to work less than full time or
because they had no choice. Theyare only classified as voluntary part-time workers
if they tell the survey taker theychose to work less than 35 hours a week.
The issue of voluntary part-timerelates to Obama care because one of the main
purposes was to allow people to getinsurance outside of employment. For many
people, especially those withserious health conditions of family members with serious health conditions,before Obama care the only way to get insurance was
through a job that provided healthinsurance.
However, Obama carehas allowed more than 12 million people to either get insurance through Medicaidor the exchanges. These are people who may previouslyhave felt the need to get a full-time job that provided insurance in orderto cover themselves and their families. WithObama care there is no longer a link betweenemployment and insurance.
36. Which part ofthe jobs picture was neglected?
A. The prospect ofa thriving job market.
B. The increase of voluntary part-time jobs.
C. The possibilityof full employment.
D. The accelerationof job creation.
37. Many peoplework part-time because they
A. prefer part-timejobs to full-time jobs
B. feel that isenough to make ends meet
C. cannot get their hands on full-time jobs
D. haven’t seen theweakness of the market
38. Involuntary part-timeemployment in the US
A. is harder toacquire than one year ago
B. shows a general tendency of decline
C. satisfies thereal need of the jobless
D. is lower thanbefore the recession
39. It can belearned that with Obama care, __________.
A. it is no longereasy for part-timers to get insurance
B. employment is no longer a precondition to getinsurance
C. it is still challengingto get insurance for family members
D. full-timeemployment is still essential for insurance.
40. The text mainly discusses____________.
A. employment in the US
B. part-timer classification
C. insurancethrough Medicaid
D. Obama care’s trouble
Part B
Directions:
In the following text, some sentences havebeen removed. For Questions 41-45, choose the most suitable one from the list[A]-[G] to fit into each of the numbered blank. There are two extra choices,which do not fit in any of the gaps. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET. (10points)
[A] You are not alone
[B] Don’t fear responsibility for your life
[C] Pave your own unique path
[D] Most of your fears are unreal
[E] Think about the present moment
[F] Experience helps you grow
[G] There are many things to be gratefulfor
Unfortunately, life is not a bed of roses.We are going through life facing sad experiences. Moreover, we are grievingvarious kinds of loss: a friendship, a romantic relationship or a house. Hardtimes may hold you down at what usually seems like the most inopportune time,but you should remember that they won’t last forever.
When our time of mourning is over, wepress forward, stronger with a greater understanding and respect for life.Furthermore, these losses make us mature and eventually move us toward futureopportunities for growth and happiness. I want to share these ten old truths I’velearned along the way.
41.________ [D] Most of your fears are unreal_____________________
Fear is both useful and harmful. Thisnormal human reaction is used to protect us by signaling danger and preparingus to deal with it. Unfortunately, people create inner barriers with a help ofexaggerating fears. My favorite actor Will Smith once said, “Fear is not real. It isa product of thoughts you create. Do not misunderstand me. Danger is very real.But fear is a choice.” I do completely agree that fearsare just the product of our luxuriant imagination.
42_______[E] Think about the present moment______________________
If you are surrounded by problems and cannotstop thinking about the past, try to focus on the present moment. Many of usare weighed down by the past or anxious about the future. You may feel guiltover your past, but you are poisoning the present with the things andcircumstances you cannot change. Value the present moment and remember howfortunate you are to be alive. Enjoy the beauty of the world around and keepthe eyes open to see the possibilities before you. Happiness is not a point offuture and not a moment from the past, but a mindset that can be designed intothe present.
43_________[G] There are many things to be grateful for_____________________
Sometimes it is easy to feel bad becauseyou are going through tough times. You can be easily caught up by life problemsthat you forget to pause and appreciate the things you have. Only strong peopleprefer to smile and value their life instead of crying and complaining aboutsomething.
44_____[A] You are not alone___________________________
No matter how isolated you might feel andhow serious the situation is, you should always remember that you are notalone. Try to keep in mind that almost everyone respects and wants to help youif you are trying to make a good change in your life, especially your dearestand nearest people. You may have a circle of friends who provide constant goodhumor, help and companionship. If you have no friends or relatives, try toparticipate in several online communities, full of people who are alwayswilling to share advice and encouragement.
45__________[C] Pave your own unique path______________________
Today many people find it difficult totrust their own opinion and seek balance by gaining objectivity from externalsources. This way you devalue your opinion and show that you are incapable ofmanaging your own life. When you are struggling to achieve something importantyou should believe in yourself and be sure that your decision is the best. Youlive in your skin, think your own thoughts, have your own values and make yourown choices.
Section IIITranslation
46. Directions:
Translate thefollowing text from English into Chinese. Write your translation on
ANSWER SHEET 2.(15points)
Think about drivinga route that’s very familiar. It could be your commute to work, a trip into town orthe way home. Whichever it is, you know every twist and turn like the back of your hand. On these sorts of trips it’seasy to zone out from the actual drivingand pay little attention to the passing scenery. The consequence is that youperceive that the trip has taken less timethan it actually has.
This is the well-travelledroad effect: people tend to underestimate the time it takes to travel a familiarroute.
The effect iscaused by the way we allocate our attention. When we travel down a well-known route, becausewe don’t have to concentrate much, time seems to
flow more quickly. And afterwards,when we come to think back on it, we can’t
remember the journey well becausewe didn’t pay much attention to it. So we
assume it was shorter.
设想你正驱车行驶在一条非常熟悉的路线上。这条路可以是你上下班，去镇上，或者是回家的路。不管是哪条路，你对它的每个转弯处都了如指掌。行驶在这样的路上，我们容易注意力不集中，对途中的风景也全然不顾。结果是，你觉得花在这条路上的时间要比实际少。
这便是“熟路效应”：人们往往会低估在熟路上所耗费的时间。
注意力分配方式的不同，则会产生这种效应。当我们行驶在熟悉的路线上，由于不必集中太多精力，便觉得时间过得更快。事后，当我们回想这段路程，会发现不太记得，原因就在于我们当时没有集中太多的注意力。因此，我们才觉得这条路比较短。
Part A
47. Directions:
Suppose youruniversity is going to host a summer camp for high school students.
Write a notice
(1) brieflyintroduce the camp activities, and
(2) call forvolunteers
You should writeabout100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not use yourname or the name of your university.
Do not write your address.
Notice
Inorder to enrich high school students’ life in summer holiday and expand thereputation of our university, the Students Union are going to host a summercamp in our school campus and volunteers are needed.
Firstly,the summer camp will begin on September 1st and it will last for tendays. Secondly, the main theme of this summer camp is “Better English, Better life”and there are various activities in this summer camp, includingEnglish-speaking contest, drama contest, sports meeting and dancing part andson on. Thirdly, volunteers need to have a good command of English and beenthusiastic in organizing different of kinds of activities.
Ifyou have any question or suggestion about this summer camp, please contact usat as soon as possible.
ABC University
Part B
48. Directions:
Write an essaybased on the following chart. In your writing, your should
(1) interpret the chart,and
(2) give yourcomment.
You should writeabout150 words on the ANSWER SHEET
The pie chart above presents the different proportion of residents’consumption in a Chinese city during Spring Festival. To be specific, thepercentage of consumption on New Year’s gifts, party, traffic and others is40%, 20%, 20% and 20% respectively. Surprisingly, the pertinent number aboutgifts is 40%. Isolated as the figures seem to be, they are connected to oneanother closely.
Undoubtedly,the purpose of the graph is to showcase the diversity of residents’ consumptionduring holidays in China, especially over-consumption on gifts as a frequentway of interpersonal communication. What exactly contribute to this phenomenon?It’s a thought-provoking question. First and foremost, advertisements of massmedia, such as radio, television and Internet, might be misleading. Plus,pertinent action taken by the public to put an end to this trend might belittle and limit. Therefore, people, men and women, old and young, in mountingnumbers are spending too much on holiday gift which floods everywhere.
Tosum up, there is an upward tendency for people these days to spend money onfestival presents rather than other things, which I believe will not change ina short time. To reverse the trend is not a piece of cake, which requires agood awareness of consumption value and interpersonal communication. Only inthis way can we have colorful festivals and relaxing times.
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