Part I Writing (30 minutes)
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay. You should start your essay with a description of the picture and then comment on then kid's understanding of going to school. You should write at 120 but no more than 180 words.
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。
"Why am I going to school if my phone already knows everything?"
Part II Listening Comprehension (30 minutes)
Section A
Directions: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations. At the end of each conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four choices marked A), B), C) and D), and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer sheet 1 with a single line through the center.
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。
1. A) He is pleased to sit on the committee. B) He is willing to offer the woman a hand.
C) He will tell the woman his decision later. D) He would like to become a club member.
2. A) Their planned trip to Vancouver is obviously overpriced.
B) They should borrow a guide book instead of buying one.
C) The guide books in the library have the latest information.
D) The library can help order guide books about Vancouver.
3. A) He regrets having taken the history course.
B) He finds little interests in history books.
C) He has trouble finishing his reading assignments.
D) He has difficulty in writing the weekly book report.
4. A) The man had better choose another restaurant.
B) The new restaurant is a perfect place for dating.
C) The new restaurant caught her fancy immediately.
D) The man has good taste in choosing the restaurant.
5. A) He has been looking forward to spring.
B) He has been waiting for the winter sale.
C) He will clean the woman’s boots for spring.
D) He will help the woman put things away.
6. A) At a tailor’s. B) At Bob’s home.
C) In a cloth store. D) In a theatre.
7. A) His guests favor Tibetan drinks. B) His water is quite extraordinary.
C) Mineral water is good for health. D) Plain water will serve the purpose.
8. A) Report the result of a discussion. B) Raise some environmental issues.
C) Submit an important document. D) Revise an environmental report.
Questions 9 to 12 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
9. A) They pollute the soil used to cover them. B) They are harmful to nearby neighborhoods.
C) The rubbish in them takes long to dissolve. D) The gas they emit is extremely poisonous.
10. A) Growing populations. B) Packaging materials.
C) Changed eating habits. D) Lower production cost.
11. A) By saving energy. B) By using less aluminum.
C) By reducing poisonous wastes. D) By making the most of materials.
12. A) We are running out of natural resources soon.
B) Only combined efforts can make a difference.
C) The waste problem will eventually hurt all of us.
D) All of us can actually benefit from recycling.
Questions 13 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
13. A) Miami. B) Vancouver. C) Bellingham. D) Boston.
14. A) To get information on one-way tickets to Canada.
B) To inquire about the price of "Super saver" seats.
C) To get advice on how to fly as cheaply as possible.
D) To inquire about the shortest route to drive home.
15. A) Join a tourist group. B) Choose a major airline.
C) Avoid trips in public holidays. D) Book tickets as early as possible.
Section B
Directions: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marketed A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer sheet I with a single line through the centre.
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。
Passage one
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.
16. A) There are mysterious stories behind his works.
B) There are many misunderstandings about him.
C) His works have no match worldwide.
D) His personal history is little known.
17. A) He moved to Stratford-on-Avon in his childhood.
B) He failed to go beyond grammar school.
C) He was a member of the town council.
D) He once worked in a well-known acting company.
18. A) Writers of his time had no means to protect their works.
B) Possible sources of clues about him were lost in a fire.
C) His works were adapted beyond recognition.
D) People of his time had little interest in him.
Passage Two
Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.
19. A) It shows you have been ignoring your health.
B) It can seriously affect your thinking process.
C) It is an early warning of some illness.
D) It is a symptom of too much pressure.
20. A) Reduce our workload.
B) Control our temper.
C) Use painkillers for relief.
D) Avoid masking symptoms.
21. A) Lying down and having some sleep.
B) Rubbing and pressing one’s back.
C) Going out for a walk.
D) Listening to light music.
Passage Three
Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.
22. A) Depending heavily on loans.
B) Having no budget plans at all.
C) Spending beyond one’s means.
D) Leaving no room for large bills.
23. A) Many of them can be cut.
B) All of them have to be covered.
C) Their payment cannot be delayed.
D) They eat up most of the family income.
24. A) Rent a house instead of buying one.
B) Discuss the problem in the family.
C) Make a conservation plan.
D) Move to a cheaper place.
25. A) Financial issues plaguing a family.
B) Difficulty in making both ends meet.
C) Family budget problems and solutions.
D) New ways to boost family income.
Section C
Directions: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks with the exact words you have just heard. Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written.
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。
Perhaps because going to college is so much a part of the American dream, many people go for no (26) _____ reason. Some go because their parents expect it, others because it’s what their friends are doing. Then, there’s the belief that a college degree will (27) _____ ensure a good job and high pay.
Some students (28) _____ through for years, attending classes, or skipping（逃课）them as the case may be, reading only what can’t be avoided, looking for less (29)_____courses, and never being touched or changed in any important way. For a few of these people, college provides no (30) _____, yet because of parental or peer pressure, they cannot voluntarily leave. They stop trying in the hope that their teachers will make the decision for them by (31) _____ them.
To put it bluntly（直截了当地）, unless you're willing to make your college years count, you might be (32) _____ doing something else. Not everyone should attend college, nor should everyone who does attend begin right after high school. Many college students (33) ____ taking a year or so off. A year out in the world helps some people to (34) _____ their priorities and goals. If you're really going to get something out of going to college, you have to make it mean something, and to do that you must have some idea why you’re there, what you hope to get out of it, and (35) _____ even what you hope to become.
Part III Reading Comprehension (40 minutes)
Section A
Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.
Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.
As a teacher, you could bring the community into your classroom in many ways. The parents and grandparents of your students are resources and 36____ for their children. They can be 37____ teachers of their own traditions and histories. Immigrant parents could talk about their country of 38____ and why they emigrated to the United States. Parents can be invited to talk about their jobs or a community project. Parents, of course, are not the only community resources. Employees at local businesses and staff at community agencies have 39____ information to share in classrooms.
Field trips provide another opportunity to know the community. Many students don't have the opportunity to 40____ concerts or visit museums or historical sites except through field trips. A school district should have 41____ for selecting and conducting field trips. Families must be made 42____ of field trips and give permission for their children to participate.
Through school projects, students can learn to be 43____ in community projects ranging from planting trees to cleaning up a park to assisting elderly people. Students, 44____ older ones, might conduct research on a community need that could lead to action by a city council or state government. Some schools require students to provide community service by 45____ in a nursing home, child care center or government agency. These projects help students understand their responsibility to the larger community.
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。
A) assets
B) attend
C) aware
D) especially
E) excellent
F) expensive
G) guidelines
H) involved
I) joining
J) naturally
K) observe
L) origin
M) recruited
N) up-to-date
O) volunteering
Section B
Directions: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.
Reaping the Rewards of Risk-Taking
[A] Since Steve Jobs resigned as chief executive of Apple, much has been said about him as a peerless business leader who has created immense wealth for shareholders, and guided the design of hit products that are transforming entire industries, like music and mobile communications.
[B] All true, but let’s think different, to borrow the Apple marketing slogan of years back. Let’s look at Mr. Jobs as a role model.
[C] Above all, he is an innovator（创新者）. His creative force is seen in products such as the iPod, iPhone and iPad, and in new business models for pricing and distributing music and mobile software online. Studies of innovation come to the same conclusion: you can’t engineer innovation, but you can increase the odds of it occurring. And Mr. Jobs' career can be viewed as a consistent pursuit of improving those odds, both for himself and the companies he has led. Mr. Jobs, of course, has enjoyed singular success. But innovation, broadly defined, is the crucial ingredient in all economic progress一higher growth for nations, more competitive products for companies, and more prosperous careers for individuals. And Mr. Jobs' many experts say, exemplifies what works in the innovation game.
[D] "We can look at and learn from Steve Jobs what the essence of American innovation is," says John Kao, an innovation consultant to corporations and governments. Many other nations, Mr. John Kao notes, are now ahead of the United States in producing what are considered the raw materials of innovation. These include government financing for scientific research, national policies to support emerging industries, educational achievement, engineers and scientists graduated, even the speeds of Internet broadband service.
[E] Yet what other nations typically lack, Mr. Kao adds, is a social environment that encourages diversity, experimentation, risk-taking, and combining skills from many fields into products that he calls "recombinant mash-ups（打碎重组）," like the iPhone, which redefined the smartphone category. "The culture of other countries doesn’t support the kind of innovation that Steve Jobs exemplifies, as America does," Mr. John Kao says.
[F] Workers of every rank are told these days that wide-ranging curiosity and continuous learning are vital to thriving in the modem economy. Formal education matters, career counselors say, but real-life experience is often even more valuable.
[G] An adopted child, growing up in Silicon Valley, Mr. Jobs displayed those traits early on. He was fascinated by electronics as a child, building Heathkit do-it-yourself projects, like radios. Mr. Jobs dropped out of Reed College after only a semester and traveled around India in search of spiritual enlightenment, before returning to Silicon Valley to found Apple with his friend, Stephen Wozniak, an engineering wizard（奇才）. Mr. Jobs was forced out of Apple in 1985, went off and founded two other companies, Next and Pixar, before returning to Apple in 1996 and becoming chief executive in 1997.
[H] His path was unique, but innovation experts say the pattern of exploration is not unusual. "It’s often people like Steve Jobs who can draw from a deep reservoir of diverse experiences that often generate breakthrough ideas and insights," says Hal Gregersen, a professor at the European Institute of Business Administration.
[I] Mr. Gregersen is a co-author of a new book, The Innovator’s DNA, which is based on an eight-year study of 5,000 entrepreneurs（创业者）and executives worldwide. His two collaborators and co-authors are Jeff Dyer, a professor at Brigham Young University, and Clayton Christensen, a professor at the Harvard Business School, whose 1997 book The Innovator's Dilemma popularized the concept of "disruptive（颠覆性的）innovation."
[J] The academics identify five traits that are common to the disruptive innovators: questioning, experimenting, observing, associating and networking. Their bundle of characteristics echoes the ceaseless curiosity and willingness to take risks noted by other experts. Networking, Mr, Hal Gregersen explains, is less about career-building relationships than a consistent search for new ideas. Associating, he adds, is the ability to make idea-producing connections by linking concepts from different disciplines.
[K] "Innovators engage in these mental activities regularly,” Mr. Gregersen says. "It’s a habit for them." Innovative companies, according to the authors, typically enjoy higher valuations in the stock market, which they call an "innovation premium（溢价）." It is calculated by estimating the share of a company’s value that cannot be accounted for by its current products and cash flow. The innovation premium tries to quantify（量化）investors' bets that a company will do even better in the future because of innovation.
[L] Apple, by their calculations, had a 37 percent innovation premium during Mr. Jobs' first term with the company. His years in exile resulted in a 31 percent innovation discount. After his return, Apple’s fortunes improved gradually at first, and improved markedly starting in 2005, yielding a 52 percent innovation premium since then.
[M] There is no conclusive proof, but Mr. Hal Gregersen says it is unlikely that Mr. Jobs could have reshaped industries beyond computing, as he has done in his second term at Apple, without the experience outside the company, especially at Pixar一the computer-animation（动画制作）studio that created a string of critically and commercially successful movies, such as "Toy Story" and "Up."
[N] Mr. Jobs suggested much the same thing during a commencement address to the graduating class at Stanford University in 2005. "It turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me," he told the students. Mr. Jobs also spoke of perseverance（坚持）and will power. "Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick," he said. "Don't lose faith”
[O] Mr. Jobs ended his commencement talk with a call to innovation, both in one’s choice of work and in one’s life. Be curious, experiment, take risks, he said to the students. His advice was emphasized by the words on the back of the final edition of The Whole Earth Catalog, which he quoted: "Stay hungry. Stay foolish." "And," Mr. Jobs said, "I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.”
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。
46. Steve Jobs called on Stanford graduates to innovate in his commencement address.
47. Steve Jobs considered himself lucky to have been fired once by Apple,
48. Steve Jobs once used computers to make movies that were commercial hits.
49. Many governments have done more than the US government in providing the raw materials for innovation.
50. Great innovators are good at connecting concepts from various academic fields.
51. Innovation is vital to driving economic progress.
52. America has a social environment that is particularly favorable to innovation.
53. Innovative ideas often come from diverse experiences.
54. Real-life experience is often more important than formal education for career success.
55. Apple’s fortunes suffered from an innovation discount during Jobs’ absence.
Section C
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.
Passage One
Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.
Some of the world’s most significant problems never hit headlines. One example comes from agriculture. Food riots and hunger make news. But the trend lying behind these matters is rarely talked about. This is the decline in the growth in yields of some of the world’s major crops. A new study by the University of Minnesota and McGill University in Montreal looks at where, and how far, this decline is occurring.
The authors take a vast number of data points for the four most important crops: rice, wheat, corn and soyabeans（大豆）. They find that on between 24% and 39% of all harvested areas, the improvement in yields that took place before the 1980s slowed down in the 1990s and 2000s.
There are two worrying features of the slowdown. One is that it has been particularly sharp in the world’s most populous（人口多的）countries, India and China. Their ability to feed themselves has been an important source of relative stability both within the countries and on world food markets. That self-sufficiency cannot be taken for granted if yields continue to slow down or reverse.
Second, yield growth has been lower in wheat and rice than in corn and soyabeans. This is problematic because wheat and rice are more important as foods, accounting for around half of all calories consumed. Com and soyabeans are more important as feed grains. The authors note that "we have preferentially focused our crop improvement efforts on feeding animals and cars rather than on crops that feed people and are the basis of food security in much of the world."
The report qualifies the more optimistic findings of another new paper which suggests that the world will not have to dig up a lot more land for fanning in order to feed 9 billion people in 2050, as the Food and Agriculture Organisation has argued.
Instead, it says, thanks to slowing population growth, land currently ploughed up for crops might be able to revert（回返）to forest or wilderness. This could happen. The trouble is that the forecast assumes continued improvements in yields, which may not actually happen.
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。
56. What does the author try to draw attention to?
A) Food riots and hunger in the world. B) News headlines in the leading media.
C) The decline of the grain yield growth. D) The food supply in populous countries.
57. Why does the author mention India and China in particular?
A) Their self-sufficiency is vital to the stability of world food markets.
B) Their food yields have begun to decrease sharply in recent years.
C) Their big populations are causing worldwide concerns.
D) Their food self-sufficiency has been taken for granted.
58. What does the new study by the two universities say about recent crop improvement efforts?
A) They fail to produce the same remarkable results as before the 1980s.
B) They contribute a lot to the improvement of human food production.
C) They play a major role in guaranteeing the food security of the world.
D) They focus more on the increase of animal feed than human food grains.
59. What does the Food and Agriculture Organisation say about world food production in the coming decades?
A) The growing population will greatly increase the pressure on world food supplies.
B) The optimistic prediction about food production should be viewed with caution.
C) The slowdown of the growth in yields of major food crops will be reversed.
D) The world will be able to feed its population without increasing farmland.
60. How does the author view the argument of the Food and Agriculture Organisation?
A) It is built on the findings of a new study.
B) It is based on a doubtful assumption.
C) It is backed by strong evidence.
D) It is open to further discussion.
Passage Two
Questions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.
The endless debate about "work-life balance" often contains a hopeful footnote about stay-at-home dads. If American society and business won’t make it easier on future female leaders who choose to have children, there is still the ray of hope that increasing numbers of full-time fathers will. But based on today’s socioeconomic trends, this hope is, unfortunately, misguided.
It’s true that the number of men who have left work to do their thing as full-time parents has doubled in a decade, but it’s still very small: only 0.8% of married couples where the stay-at-home father was out of the labor force for a year. Even that percentage is likely inflated by men thrust into their caretaker role by a downsizing. This is simply not a large enough group to reduce the social stigma（污名）and force other adjustments necessary to supporting men in this decision, even if only for a relatively short time.
Even shorter times away from work for working fathers are already difficult. A study found that 85% of new fathers take some time off after the birth of a child一but for all but a few, it's a week or two at most. Meanwhile, the average for women who take leave is more than 10 weeks.
Such choices impact who moves up in the organization. While you’re away, someone else is doing your work, making your sales, taking care of your customers. That can't help you at work. It can only hurt you. Women, of course, face the same issues of returning after a long absence. But with many more women than men choosing to leave the workforce entirely to raise families, returning from an extended parental leave doesn’t raise as many eyebrows as it does for men.
Women would make more if they didn't break their earning trajectory（轨迹）by leaving the workforce, or if higher-paying professions were more family-friendly. In the foreseeable future, stay-at-home fathers may make all the difference for individual families, but their presence won't reduce the numbers of high-potential women who are forced to choose between family and career.
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。
61. What gives women a ray of hope to achieve work-life balance?
A) More men taking an extended parental leave.
B) People's changing attitudes towards family.
C) More women entering business management.
D) The improvement of their socioeconomic status.
62. Why does the author say the hope for more full-time fathers is misguided?
A) Women are better at taking care of children.
B) Many men value work more than their family.
C) Their number is too small to make a difference.
D) Not many men have the chance to stay at home.
63. Why do few men take a long parental leave?
A) A long leave will have a negative impact on their career.
B) They just have too many responsibilities to fulfill at work.
C) The economic loss will be too much for their family to bear.
D) They are likely to get fired if absent from work for too long.
64. What is the most likely reaction to men returning from an extended parental leave?
A) Jealousy. B) Surprise. C) Admiration. D) Sympathy.
65. What does the author say about high-potential women in the not-too-distant future?
A) They will benefit from the trend of more fathers staying at home.
B) They will find high-paying professions a bit more family-friendly.
C) They are unlikely to break their career trajectrory to raise a family.
D) They will still face the difficult choice between career and children.
Part IV Translation (30 minutes)
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English. You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.
据报道，今年中国快递服务(courier service)将递送120亿件包裹，这将使中国可能超越美国成为世界上最大的快递市场。大多数包裹里装着网上订购的物品。中国给数百万在线零售商以极具竞争力的价格销售商品的机会。仅在11月11日，中国消费者就从国内最大的购物平台购买了价值90亿美元的商品，中国有不少这样的特殊购物日。因此，快递业在中国扩展就不足为奇了。