“Family“ is of course an elastic word. And in different countries it has different meanings. But when British people say that their society is based on family life, they are thinking of “family“ in its narrow, peculiarly European sense of mother, father and children living together in their own house as an economic and social unit. Thus, every British marriage indicates the beginning of a new and independent family—hence the tremendous importance of marriage in British life. For both man and woman, marriage means leaving one’ s parents and starting one’ s own life. The man’ s first duty will then be to his wife, and the wife’ s to her husband. He will be entirely responsible for her financial support, and she for the running of the new home. Their children will be their common responsibility and their alone. Neither the wife’ s parents nor the husband’ s, nor their brothers or sisters, aunts or uncles, have any right to interfere with them—they are their own masters. Readers of novels like Jane Austen’ s Pride and Prejudice will know that in former times, marriage among wealthy families were arranged by the girl’ s parents, that is, it was the parents’ duty to find a suitable husband for their daughter, preferably a rich one, and by skillful encouragement to lead him eventually to ask their permission to marry her. Until that time, the girl was protected and maintained in the parents’ home, and the financial relief of getting rid of her could be seen in their giving the newly married pair a sum of money called a dowry(嫁妆). It is very different today. Most girls of today get a job when they leave school and become financially independent before their marriage. This has had two results. A girl chooses her own husband, and she gets no dowry. Every coin has two sides; independence for girls is no exception. But it may be a good thing for all of the girls, as their social status are much higher and they are no longer the subordinate(部下，下级)of their parents and husbands.

How many courses did the woman take last semester?W: Dr. Steven, I am thinking about changing my major before the end of the freshman year. M: What are you studying now? W: I am taking three general courses and American history and American literature this semester. Last semester I took four requirements and freshman French. M: I believe it’ s not too late to change your major because you’ ve mainly taken general requirements which all freshmen have to take. Also we have twelve electives so the two literature courses will be included in them, so you can change your major without losing any credit hours. W: I am very happy to know I am still able to change my major. I am interested in writing newspaper articles, and after finishing my degree I would like to work for some newspaper firm. M: Oh, I think you will be a good writer. W: Dr. Steven, when do students start practical training? M: They don’ t begin practical training in reporting until the sophomore year. Journalism normally is taken in the freshman year as a general background course. W: I see. I will take the course next semester. Thank you very much for your help. M: You’ re welcome. I look forward to seeing you in my department. 3. 4. 5 6

With the world’ s population estimated to grow from six to nine billion by 2050, researchers, businesses and governments are already dealing with the impact, this increase will have on everything from food and water to infrastructure(基础设施)and jobs. Underling all this【C1】______will be the demand for energy, which is expected to double over the next 40 years. Finding the resources to meet this demand in a【C2】______, sustainable way is the cornerstone(基石)of our nation’ s energy security, and will be one of the major【C3】______of the 21st century. Alternative forms of energy-bio-fuels, wind and solar, to name a few—are【C4】______being funded and developed, and will play a growing【C5】______in the world’s energy supply. But experts say that even when【C6】______, alternative energy sources will likely meet only about 30% of the world’s energy needs by 2049. For example, even with【C7】______investments, such as the $ 93 million for wind energy development【C8】______in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, important alternative energy sources such as wind and bio fuels【C9】______only about 1% of the market today. Energy and sustainability experts say the answer to our future energy needs will likely come from a lot of【C10】______—both traditional and alternative. [A]stable[B]solutions [C]significant[D]role [E]progress[F]marvelous [G]included[H]growth [I]exactly[J]consist [K]comprise[L]competitions [M]combined[N]challenges [O]certainly

Steveland Morris is a household name in America. Ask Steveland Morris and he’ll tell you that blindness is not necessarily disabling. Steveland was born prematurely(过早地，不到期地)and totally without sight in 1950s. He became Stevie Wonder—composer, singer, and pianist. The winner of ten Grammy awards, Stevie is widely acclaimed(喝采)for his outstanding contributions to the music world. As a child, Stevie learned not to think about the things he could not do, but to concentrate on the things that he could do. His parents encouraged him to join in his sighted brothers as many activities as possible. They also helped him to sharpen his sense of hearing, the sense upon which the usually disabled are so dependent. Because sound was so important to him, Stevie began at an early age to experiment with different kinds of sound. He would bang things together and then imitate the sound with his voice. Often relying on sound for entertainment, he sang, beat on toy drums, played a toy harmonica(口琴), and listened to the radio. Stevie soon graduated from toy instruments to real instruments. He first learned to play the drums. He then mastered the harmonica and the piano. He became a member of the junior church choir(唱诗班)and a lead singer. In the evenings and on weekends, Stevie would play different instruments and sing popular rhythm and blues tunes on the front porches(走廊)of neighbors’ homes. One of Stevie’ s sessions was overheard by Ronnie White , a member of a popular singing group called The Miracles. Ronnie immediately recognized Stevie’ s talent and took him to audition(试听)for Berry Gordy, the president of Hitsville USA, a large recording company now known as Motown. Stevie recorded his first smash hit “Fingertips“ in 1962 at age twelve, and the rest of Stevie’ s story is music history.

Read the text below. Write an essay in about 120 words, in which you should summarize the key points of the text and make comments on them. Try to use you own words. Beijing has extended its ban on operating outdoor barbecues from the city center outward to selected suburbs, according to municipal authorities. A year ago, Beijing banned restaurants from operating outdoor barbecues within the fourth ring road area. And now, the ban has extended to several suburbs, including Mentougou, Fangs-han, Tongzhou, Shunyi, Daxing, Pinggu and Miyun. The barbecue ban was announced to reduce Beijing’ s air pollution, as barbecue has long been accused as one of the major contributors to haze. According to Wang Yuesi, a researcher from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics in Chinese Academy of Sciences, barbecuing can generate a lot of PM 2.5, harmful airborne particles measuring less than 2. 5 microns in diameter. “ Considering the seriousness of the air pollution in Beijing, we have to ban everything that may do harm to our environment!“ Wang said. The issue has divided Chinese netizens, as half agreed with the policy while the other half called this grand plan nothing but “empty talk. “ A sample of comments from Weibo:“ Why don’ t those petrochemical plants, power stations and other heavy industries be banned? What is the Ministry of Environmental Protection going to do next? We still need to eat, so please allow us to cook!“ “Right decisions to resolve PM2. 5 pollution problems, the option which made by governors is legalistic reserve for ’ public profits’ courses,“ some people said.

What does the man mean?W: I don’t think the job has to be done perfectly. M: Maybe, but it’ s important to do your best. W: Yes, maybe you are right. M: Just do your best. Nobody can be the best. Do as well as you can. It’ s difficult to do something important. It’ s impossible to do something important.

In shopping malls, the assistants try to push you into buying “a gift to thank her for her unselfish love“. When you log onto a website, a small pop-up invites you to book a bouquet for her. Commercial warmth and gratitude are the atmosphere being spread around for this special Sunday in May. 【C1】______The popularity of Mother’ s Day around the world suggests that Jarvis got all she wanted. In fact, she got more—enough to make her horrified. 【C2】______They buy, among other things, 132 million cards. Mother’ s Day is the No. 1 holiday for flower purchases. Then there are the various commodities, ranging from jewelry and clothes to cosmetics and washing powder, that take advantage of the promotion opportunities. Because of this, Jarvis spent the last 40 years of her life trying to stop Mother’ s Day. One protest against the commercialization of Mother’ s Day even got her arrested—for disturbing the peace, interestingly. 【C3】______As Ralph Fevre, a reporter at the UK newspaper The Guardian, observed, traditionally “ motherhood is something that we do because we think it’ s right. “ But in the logic of commercialism, people need something in exchange for their time and energy. A career serves this purpose better. 【C4】______So they work hard and play hard. Becoming a mother, however, inevitably handicaps career anticipation. 【C5】______According to The Guardian, there are twice as many child-free young women as there were a generation ago. Or, they put off the responsibility of parenting until later in their lives. So, Fevre writes that the meaning of celebrating Mother’ s Day needs to be updated: “It is to persuade people that parenting is a good idea and to honor people for their attempt to be good people. “ [A]According to a research by the US card company Hallmark, 96 percent of American consumers celebrate the holiday. [B]But what’ s more, commercialism changes young people’ s attitude towards motherhood. [C]Obviously, the best gift will be a phone call or a visit. [D]The American version of Mother’ s Day was thought up as early as 1905, by Anna Jarvis, as a way of recognizing the real value of motherhood. [E]In addition, women are being encouraged to pursue any career they desire. [F]As a result, motherhood has suffered a huge drop in status since the 1950s. [G]Nowadays Mother’ s Day become more and more commercialization.

You have read the following magazine advertisement in which an American girl is looking for pen-friends and you want to get in touch with her. [*] Name: Andy Lewis Age:21 Interest: collecting coins, stamps and postcards, learning foreign languages. All letters will be answered. Address:20 Staten Street, Eylandt, DF8 3LF, USA Write a letter to her(Andy Lewis), telling her about; 1)your family 2)your schooling or work 3)your hobbies You should write approximately 100 words. Do not sign your own name at the end of your letter. Use “Li Ping“ instead. You needn’t write the address.

What information did the man hear from the broadcast?Questions 11 to 14 are based on the following dialogue between two passengers on their flight to Beijing. M: Have you heard the broadcast just now? We will shortly be starting our descent into Beijing. The weather is reported to be sunny and warm. W: Yes, it’s so exciting. M: Is this your first time to China? W: Yes, we’re on our honeymoon. M: Oh, congratulations! W: Thanks. Do you live in Beijing? M: No, but my grandma does. I’m visiting her. Are you over for the Olympics? W: We’ve got tickets for some track events but we do want to do plenty of sightseeing too. What would you recommend? M: Well, it depends what you’re after. Oh, why don’t I give you my number and if you’d like some local color, maybe I could help you out? W: Oh, it’s very kind of you. M: My pleasure. Here’s my business card with my number on it. W: Thank you very much. M: Where are you going after arrival? W: We plan to find a hotel near the Olympic Village. M: Have you made a reservation? W: No. Will the hotels be full? M: I don’t know, but don’t worry. There are so many hotels in Beijing that you won’t have any chance to sleep in the street. The plane is going to take off. The plane is arriving in Beijing. It is cloudy in Beijing. The woman is on her honeymoon.

When do people usually wear T-shirts?For many years, T-shirts were short sleeved undershirts only for men and boys. T-shirts used to be of one color—white. And since they were worn under shirts, they were generally not seen. Today things have changed a lot. T-shirts has become colorful and fashionable. It can be seen almost everywhere and on everyone. Women and children wear T-shirts as well as teenagers, university students and men from all walks of life. T-shirts are worn on the playground, on the beach or in town. They can also be worn for work. Because the T-shirts are relatively inexpensive, smart, comfortable and convenient to wear, they have become one of the newest ideas in fashion over the world. Although T-shirts are now available in a wide variety of bright materials and styles, the most popular kind is the traditional cotton T-shirts with a slogan or a picture printed on the front. A T-shirt may bear a single word, a popular phrase, pictures of sportsmen, or an advertisement. As T-shirts are becoming more and more popular, new designs are coming up all the time. When they take part in sports. When they watch a film. When they go shopping. When they read a book.

What are the speakers doing as the conversation begins?M: Did you take these pictures? They are very good. W: Yes, I think they turned out very well too. I like to bring my camera with me wherever I go. That’ s way if I see something attractive I can take a picture of it. M: Carrying a big camera around is too much trouble for me. W: My camera is really small enough. Here let me show you. M: That is a compact camera. But you must know a lot about photography to get such professional looking results. W: Not necessarily. This camera is simple to work. It has an automatic focus. I don’t even have to worry about focusing. M: That’ s what I need. When I take pictures, they usually come out blurry because I don’ t adjust the lenses properly. And I hate photos that are out of focus. Is a camera like yours very expensive? W: Less than you’ d expect. Why don’ t you check the prices that Head Fields demonstrates? This model was on sale there last week. M: I think I will. It certainly won’t hurt to take a look. Looking at some photographs. Selling cameras. Teaching a photography class. Repairing camera equipment.

“Family“ is of course an elastic word. And in different countries it has different meanings. But when British people say that their society is based on family life, they are thinking of “family“ in its narrow, peculiarly European sense of mother, father and children living together in their own house as an economic and social unit. Thus, every British marriage indicates the beginning of a new and independent family—hence the tremendous importance of marriage in British life. For both man and woman, marriage means leaving one’ s parents and starting one’ s own life. The man’ s first duty will then be to his wife, and the wife’ s to her husband. He will be entirely responsible for her financial support, and she for the running of the new home. Their children will be their common responsibility and their alone. Neither the wife’ s parents nor the husband’ s, nor their brothers or sisters, aunts or uncles, have any right to interfere with them—they are their own masters. Readers of novels like Jane Austen’ s Pride and Prejudice will know that in former times, marriage among wealthy families were arranged by the girl’ s parents, that is, it was the parents’ duty to find a suitable husband for their daughter, preferably a rich one, and by skillful encouragement to lead him eventually to ask their permission to marry her. Until that time, the girl was protected and maintained in the parents’ home, and the financial relief of getting rid of her could be seen in their giving the newly married pair a sum of money called a dowry(嫁妆). It is very different today. Most girls of today get a job when they leave school and become financially independent before their marriage. This has had two results. A girl chooses her own husband, and she gets no dowry. Every coin has two sides; independence for girls is no exception. But it may be a good thing for all of the girls, as their social status are much higher and they are no longer the subordinate(部下，下级)of their parents and husbands.

Hadley: If you smoke and you still don’ t believe that there’ s a definite link between smoking and bronchial troubles, heart disease and lung cancer, then you are certainly deceiving yourself. Just have a look at those people in hospital with these diseases and count how many of them do not smoke, and then you may be surprised at the number. Even these few people might be passive smokers without realizing it. Randy: Tobacco is a wonderful commodity to tax. It is almost like a tax on our daily bread. In tax revenue alone, the government of Britain collects enough from smokers to pay for its entire educational facilities. So while the authorities point out ever so carefully that smoking may be harmful, it doesn’ t do to shout too loudly about it. Sampson: The advertising of tobacco is one of the problems. We are never shown pictures of real smokers coughing up their lungs early in the morning. That would never do. The advertisements always depict handsome, clean-shaven young men. They suggest it is manly to smoke, even positively healthy! Smoking is associated with the great open air life, with beautiful girls, true love and togetherness. What utter nonsense! Rowley: Of course tobacco can help government to raise money. However, while money is eagerly collected in vast sums with one hand, it is paid out in increasingly vaster sums with the other. E-normous amounts are spent on cancer research and on efforts to cure people suffering from the disease. Countless valuable lives are lost. In the long run, there is no doubt that everybody would be much better off if smoking were banned altogether. Bernice: Smoking can provide constant consolation. When I feel worried or nervous, I just get a cigarette and everything seems to get right. After a day’ s hard work, the thing I want to do most is smoking. It can be even better than a cup of coffee. It is so enjoyable and relaxing that it relieves stresses of every day life. So why bother to ban it and take the pleasure from us. Statements [A]Smoking brings many psychological benefits. [B]Tobacco is an important source of income to the government. [C]Smoking is sure to cause diseases. [D]It’ s a short sighted policy to depend on tobacco for money. [E]The advertisement for it is dishonest and harmful. [F]The tobacco industry makes high quality advertisement for smoking. [G]It’ s doubtful whether there is link between smoking and cancer.

With regard to marriage in Britain, present-day girls differ from former-time girls in______.

What is TRUE concerning the book Pride and Prejudice?

Everything is decided in a family______.

For an English family, the husband’ s duty is______.

What does the author mean by “Family is of course an elastic word“?