Read the following text(s) and write an essay to 1) summarize the main points of the text(s) , 2) make clear your own viewpoints, and 3) justify your stand. In your essay, make full use of the information provided in the text(s). If you use more than three consecutive words from the text(s), use quotation marks (“ “). You should write 160 -200 words on the ANSWER SHEET. However you view credit cards, it’s hard to live in the modern world without one. And if you have one, you owe it to yourself to use it properly. Although credit cards are becoming a more acceptable part of the financial scene, they are still regarded with suspicion by many as being a major part of the “live now pay later“ syndrome. A-long with hire purchase, rental and leasing schemes, they provide encouragement to spend more money. They can allow you to pile up debts that you have difficulty paying off, they can also let you spend next month’ s salary today. Advertising campaigns have, however, promoted a growing realization of the advantages of these small pieces of plastic. They obviate the need to carry large amounts of cash and are always useful in emergencies. All the credit card organizations charge interest on a monthly basis which may work out as high as 25 per cent a year, yet judicious purchasing using a card can mean that you obtain up to seven weeks interest free credit. It is worthwhile shopping around before deciding on a particular credit card. It is necessary to consider the amount of credit granted; interest rates, which may vary slightly; the number and range of outlets, though most cards cover major garages, hotels, restaurants and departments stores, and of course, what happens if your card is lost or stolen. Using a credit card wisely takes discipline and a little self-control. Once you realize your debt is someone else’ s profit margin, your approach to your plastic will change. With a bit of discipline and some practical knowledge, you can make your cards work for you, rather than the other way round. As a matter of fact, a credit card can cost nothing or at least help to tide you over a period of financial difficulty.

[*]Loneliness is a curious thing. Many people can remember feeling most lonely not when they were in fact alone at all, but when they were surrounded by people. Everyone of us has experienced, at some time, that utter sense of isolation comes over you when you are at a party or an audience at a lecture. It suddenly seems to you as if everybody knows everybody else; everybody is sure of himself; everybody, except you. This feeling of loneliness which can come over you when you are in a crowd is very difficult to overcome. People living alone are advised to deal with their loneliness by joining a club or a society, by going out and meeting people. Does this really help? There are no easy solutions. Your first day at work, or at a new school or university, is a typical situation in which you are likely to feel lonely. You feel that everybody else is very confident and knows what to do, but you are adrift and helpless. The fact of the matter is that in order to survive, we all put on a show of self-confidence to hide our uncertainties and doubts. In a big city it is particularly easy to get the feeling that everybody except you is leading a full, rich and busy life. Everybody is going somewhere , and you tend to assume that they are going somewhere nice and interesting , whereas your destination is less exciting and fulfilling.

Why did Jane want to go back to work?Jane Brown, has been married for 12 years, she has three children and lives in a suburb outside Columbus, Ohio. When her youngest child reached school age, Jane decided to go back to work. She felt that she should contribute to the household finances. Her salary could make the difference between the financial struggle and a secure financial situation for her family. Jane also felt bored and frustrated in her role as a home maker and wanted to be more involved in life outside her home. Jane was worried about the children’ s adjustment to the new situation, but she arranged for them to go to stay with a woman nearby after school each afternoon. They seemed to be happy with the arrangement. The problem seemed to be between Jane and her husband Bill. When Jane was at home all day, she was able to clean the house, go grocery shopping, wash the clothes, take care of the children and cook the two or three meals each day. She was very busy, of course, but she succeeded in getting everything done. Now these same things need to be done, but Jane has only evenings and early mornings to do them. Both Jane and Bill are tired when they arrived at home at six p. m.. Bill is accustomed to sitting down and reading the paper or watching TV until the dinner is ready. This is exactly what Jane feels like doing, but someone has to fix the dinner, and Bill expects it to be Jane. Jane is becoming very angry at Bill’ s attitude. She feels that they should share the household jobs. But Bill feels that everything should be the same as it was before she went back to work. Because she was bored with her husband. Because she would like to help with the family’ s finances. Because she was offered a good job. Because she was bored with her children.

[A] No disciplines have seized on professionalism with as much enthusiasm as the humanities. You can, Mr Menand points out, became a lawyer in three years and a medical doctor in four. But the regular time it takes to get a doctoral degree in the humanities is nine years. Not surprisingly, up to half of all doctoral students in English drop out before getting their degrees. [B] His concern is mainly with the humanities: Literature, languages, philosophy and so on. These are disciplines that are going out of style: 22% of American college graduates now major in business compared with only 2% in history and 4% in English. However, many leading American universities want their undergraduates to have a grounding in the basic canon of ideas that every educated person should posses. But most find it difficult to agree on what a “general education“ should look like. At Harvard, Mr Menand notes, “the great books are read because they have been read“—they form a sort of social glue. [C] Equally unsurprisingly, only about half end up with professorships for which they entered graduate school. There are simply too few posts. This is partly because universities continue to produce ever more PhDs. But fewer students want to study humanities subjects: English departments awarded more bachelor’ s degrees in 1970 ~ 1971 than they did 20 years later. Fewer students requires fewer teachers. So, at the end of a decade of theses-writing., many humanities students leave the profession to do something for which they have not been trained. [D] One reason why it is hard to design and teach such courses is that they can cut across the insistence by top American universities that liberal arts educations and professional education should be kept separate, taught in different schools. Many students experience both varieties. Although more than half of Harvard undergraduates end up in law, medicine or business, future doctors and lawyers must study a non-specialist liberal-arts degree before embarking on a professional qualification. [E] Besides professionalizing the professions by this separation, top American universities have professionalised the professor. The growth in public money for academic research has speeded the process: federal research grants rose fourfold between 1960 and 1990, but faculty teaching hours fell by half as research took its toll. Professionalism has turned the acquisition of a doctoral degree into a prerequisite for a successful academic career; as late as 1969 a third of A-merican professors did not possess one. But the key idea behind professionalisation, argues Mr Menand, is that “ the knowledge and skills needed for a particular specialization are transmissible but not transferable. “ So disciplines acquire a monopoly not just over the production of knowledge, but also over the production of the producers of knowledge. [F] The key to reforming higher education, concludes Mr Menand, is to alter the way in which “the producers of knowledge are produced. “ Otherwise, academics will continue to think dangerously alike, increasingly detached from the societies which they study, investigate and criticize. “Academic inquiry, at least in some fields, may need to become less exclusionary and more holistic. “Yet quite how that happens, Mr. Menand does not say. [G] The subtle and intelligent little book The Marketplace of Ideas-. Reform and Resistance in the American University should be read by every student thinking of applying to take a doctoral degree. They may then decide to go elsewhere. For something curious has been happening in American Universities, and Louis Menand, a professor of English at Harvard University, captured it skillfully. Order: [*]

The demoralizing environment, decrepit(老朽的)building and minimal materials make the high school experience for these children an uphill battle. Merely graduating from such a high school is difficult, much less becoming a high-caliber science or engineering student. Schools with students from a higher socioeconomic level would not tolerate the obstacles I encountered daily. Improvements need to be made efficiently and made soon, or the divisions among people in this country will only become more extreme. Of course, there are things that concerned citizens can do to help. Get involved with a school, especially one in a poor area. Volunteer to give a presentation or just to spend time with the children. My students were excited to talk to an insurance salesperson who came to give a career exploration lecture. They not only were genuinely interested in the opportunities he described but also were amazed that such a man would donate an afternoon to them. Although those measures can help, they are not enough. For teaching to be effective, the entire environment of the inner city needs to be changed. Teaching someone the difference between velocity and acceleration is irrelevant if the person is hungry and scared. Programs that educate parents in child-rearing, organize low-income groups into cooperative units, fight drug trafficking and help to clean up the ghettos physically will improve the life in the community. The small alterations and “ new“ proposals currently filling the newspapers are certainly not strong enough to transform a decaying and demoralized school structure that has been disintegrating for decades. Inner-city schools need so much more, and the children deserve so much more than our society is willing to give. Like many other people, I entered the teaching profession eager to investigate change and found many institutionalized obstacles in my way. It should not be so difficult to make a difference.

Some years ago, Pioneer Hi-bred International, where I was employed, purchased Norand Corporation. Pioneer’ s sales representatives used Norand hand-held terminals to upload daily sales information and download new price and sales incentive information. Pioneer bought so many of these hand-held terminals, the economics made the purchase of Norand look interesting. 【T1】Owning Norand also allowed Pioneer to explore high-technology markets outside agriculture. But after several years, the emerging laptop PC technology made the hand-held units out-of-date. Pioneer sold Norand at a loss. 【T2】Pioneer always took a given percent of the annual profits to divide equally among all employees, so our profit-sharing checks were lower than if Pioneer had not purchased Norand. Additionally, my Pioneer stock was lower than it had been before the purchase of Norand. I was not pleased. 【T3】The CEO of Pioneer, Tom Urban, made annual formal visits to each of the Pioneer divisions to talk about the state of the business and to listen to employees’ concerns. When he went into the meeting room for his first visit after the sale of Norand, he acknowledged the group, removed his jacket and neatly folded it across the back of the chair. He loosened his tie, undid his collar and rolled up his sleeves. What he said next was the last thing I ever expected to hear a CEO say. He said, “I made a mistake buying Norand and I am sorry. I am sorry your profit-sharing was lower because of the purchase, and I am sorry your stock was hurt by the purchase. I will continue to take risks, but I am a bit smarter now, and I will work harder for you. “The room was quiet for a moment before he asked for questions. A great man and leader stood before us that day. 【T4】As I sat listening to him, I knew I could trust him, and that he deserved every bit of loyalty I could give to him and to Pioneer. I also knew I could take risks in my own job. 【T5】In the brief moment of silence before the questions started, I recalled thinking that I would follow him into any battle.

Read the following text(s) and write an essay to 1) summarize the main points of the text(s) , 2) make clear your own viewpoints, and 3) justify your stand. In your essay, make full use of the information provided in the text(s). If you use more than three consecutive words from the text(s), use quotation marks (“ “). You should write 160 -200 words on the ANSWER SHEET. However you view credit cards, it’s hard to live in the modern world without one. And if you have one, you owe it to yourself to use it properly. Although credit cards are becoming a more acceptable part of the financial scene, they are still regarded with suspicion by many as being a major part of the “live now pay later“ syndrome. A-long with hire purchase, rental and leasing schemes, they provide encouragement to spend more money. They can allow you to pile up debts that you have difficulty paying off, they can also let you spend next month’ s salary today. Advertising campaigns have, however, promoted a growing realization of the advantages of these small pieces of plastic. They obviate the need to carry large amounts of cash and are always useful in emergencies. All the credit card organizations charge interest on a monthly basis which may work out as high as 25 per cent a year, yet judicious purchasing using a card can mean that you obtain up to seven weeks interest free credit. It is worthwhile shopping around before deciding on a particular credit card. It is necessary to consider the amount of credit granted; interest rates, which may vary slightly; the number and range of outlets, though most cards cover major garages, hotels, restaurants and departments stores, and of course, what happens if your card is lost or stolen. Using a credit card wisely takes discipline and a little self-control. Once you realize your debt is someone else’ s profit margin, your approach to your plastic will change. With a bit of discipline and some practical knowledge, you can make your cards work for you, rather than the other way round. As a matter of fact, a credit card can cost nothing or at least help to tide you over a period of financial difficulty.

[*]It’s 8 o’ clock on Tuesday, May 1st. Here is the news: Between the hours of 7: 00 and 8: 00 P. M. last night, five thieves broke into the country house of Lord and Lady Chest-field on an island. They entered by a window at the rear of the house and surprised the owners who were watching television in the drawing room. After disconnecting the telephone and tying up Lord and Lady Chest-field, the thieves escaped with 16 precious paintings. The market value of such art works have been estimated at somewhere a-round 4 million pounds. Lord and Lady Chest-field were not seriously harmed but have been treated for shock in the hospital. Early this morning a woman with a Scottish accent telephoned the Times in London to say that the Chest-field Organization for Freedom had claimed the responsibility for the theft. This is the third time this year that this organization has claimed the responsibility for an act of this kind. The organization defends all the farmers on the island. The farmers were forced to leave their lands when Lord Chest-field, their landlord, refused to renew their traditional lease last year in order to extend the reservation area for birds.

What kind of food is most likely to cause dental decay?How many teeth have you had filled in the past two years? If you follow the advice of Dr. Faustick, you may be able to reduce the number of your visits to a dentist. Dr. Faustick conducted a two-year survey to find out how to prevent or reduce dental decay. 946 students took part in an experiment. 523 students cleaned their teeth within ten minutes of eating: when possibly they used a toothbrush, when this was impossible they washed their mouth thoroughly with water. The remaining 423 students merely cleaned their teeth when they went to bed and when they got up in the morning. All the students had their teeth X-rayed at the end of the first and second years. At the end of the first year, the night and morning group had three times as many decayed teeth as the former group. Dr. Faustick has cleaned his teeth after each meal for thirteen years and has not had a single decayed tooth. He pointed out that sugar is a major agent in dental decay. Particularly the sugar in sweets, cakes, and soft drinks. Ideally you should keep a tooth brush in your pocket and use it immediately after you have finished eating. When this is impractical you can at least make sure that you have a drink of water and let the water through your teeth to force out any particles of food. 7 out of 10 people loose at least half of their teeth by the time they are fifty. Many have a complete set of false teeth by that time. In any case neither toothache nor a visit to a dentist is very pleasant. So it is worthwhile making an effort to keep your own teeth as long as possible. The main preventative agent is simply water. Coca Cola. Sausage. Milk. Fried chicken.

Many phrases used to describe monetary policy, such as “ steering the economy to a soft landing“ or “a touch on the brakes“, makes it sound like a precise science. Nothing could be further from the truth. The relation between interest rates and inflation is uncertain. And there are long, variable lags before policy changes have any effect on the economy. Hence the analogy that likens the conduct of monetary policy to driving a car with a blackened windscreen, a cracked rearview mirror and a faulty steering wheel. Given all these disadvantages, central bankers seem to have had much to boast about. Average inflation in the big seven industrial economies fell to a mere 2.3% one year, close to its lowest level in 30 years, before rising slightly to 2. 5% the next July. This is a long way below the double-digit rates which many countries experienced in the 1970s and early 1980s. It is also less than most forecasters has predicted. In late 1994 the panel of economists which The Economist polls each month said that America’s inflation rate would average 3.5% in 1995. In fact, it fell to 2.6% in August, and is expected to average only about 3% for the year as a whole. In Britain and Japan inflation is running half a percentage point below the rate predicted at the end of last year. This is no flash in the pan; over the past few years, inflation has been continually lower than expected in Britain and America. Economists have been particularly surprised by favourable inflation figures in Britain and the United States, since conventional measures suggest that both economies, and especially that of America, have little productive slack. America’s capacity utilisation, for example, hit historically high levels earlier this year, and its jobless rate(5. 6% in August)has fallen below most estimates of the natural rate of unemployment — the rate below which inflation has taken off in the past. Why has inflation proved so mild? The most thrilling explanation is, unfortunately, a little defective. Some economists argue that powerful structural changes in the world have up-ended the old economic models which were based upon the historical link between growth and inflation.

Proper arrangement of classroom space is important to encouraging interaction. Most of us have noticed how important physical setting is to efficiency and comfort when we work. Today’ s corporations hire human engineering specialists and spend a great deal of time and money to make sure that the physical environments of buildings are fit to the activities of their inhabitants. Similarly, college classroom space should be designed to encourage the activity of critical thinking. We will move into the twenty-first century, but step into almost any college classroom and you will step back in time at least a hundred years. Desks are normally in straight rows, so students can clearly see the teacher but not all their classmates. The assumption behind such an arrangement is obvious: everything important comes from the teacher. With a little imagination and effort, unless desks are fixed to the floor, the teacher can correct this situation and create space that encourages interchanges among students. In small or standard-sized classes, chairs, desks and tables can be arranged in different ways: circles, U-shapes, or semicircles. The primary goal should be for everyone to be able to see everyone else. Larger classes, particularly those held in lecture halls, unfortunately, allow much less flexibility. Arrangement of the classroom should also make it easy to divide students into small groups for discussion or problem-solving exercises. Small classes with moveable desks and tables present no problem. Even in large lecture halls, it is possible for students to turn around and form groups of four to six. Breaking a class into small groups provides more opportunities for students to interact with each other, think out hard, and see how other students’ thinking processes operate — all these are the most important elements in developing new modes of critical thinking. In courses that regularly use a small group format, students might be asked to stay in the same small groups throughout the course. A colleague of mine allows students to move around during the first two weeks, until they find a group they are comfortable with. He then asks them to stay in the same seat, with the same group, from then on. This not only creates a comfortable setting for interaction but helps him learn students’ names and faces.

Marco Polo came to ChinaOne of the most famous travelers in all of history was Marco Polo. At the age of 17, he left Italy with his father and uncle. It took them more than 3 years to cross the mountains and deserts of Asia. In the year 1275, they reached China. They stayed in China for almost 20 years, as guests of the emperor. He sent them on many trips around his empire. They found China far more advanced than Italy or any other countries in Europe. After he returned to Italy, Marco Polo dictated many of his stories to a friend. His book, Description of the World, became the most popular book in Europe. People found it difficult to believe his stories of people, animals, places, and things. These are a few of his descriptions: In one area of China, there were black stones. People dug them out of the mountains. They lit the black stones and they burned very slowly, giving off heat. The people used these stones to cook and to heat their homes. In China there was a great system of highways. These highways had two lanes paved with stones or bricks. Men planted trees every ten feet to keep the sun off travelers’ heads. Most people believed Marco Polo’ s stories. But others told him that they did not believe his descriptions. He answered that he did not tell half of what he saw. alone. with two friends. with his brothers. with his father and uncle.

Pay and productivity, it is generally assumed, should be related. But the relationship seems to weaken【C1】______people get older. Mental ability declines with age. That is the same for the brainy and the dim—and not 【C2】______for humans: it is measurable even for fruit flies.【C3】______minds that keep lively will suffer less than the lazy. In general, the more education you have, the more productive your old【C4】______will be. Some【C5】______decline faster than others. According to most studies, people’ s numerical and reasoning abilities are at their best in their 20 s and early 30 s.【C6】______abilities—those that depend on knowledge—may improve with age. For most workers, decreased abilities will【C7】______to lower productivity; only a minority will find know-how and knowledge outweighs their failing powers. Even those employees who remain highly productive will be likely to shine only in a narrow【C8】______. Academics notice this. It is less clear that employers do. Studies of supervisors-ratings show no clear correlation【C9】______age and perceived productivity. When other employees-views are【C10】______into account though, the picture changes: these ratings suggest that workers in their 30s are the【C11】______productive and hardworking, with scores falling thereafter. That is【C12】______up by studies of work samples, which find lower productivity among the oldest employees. A study for America’ s Department of Labor showed job performance peaking at 35, and【C13】______declining. It varied by industry: the fall was slower in footwear, but faster in furniture. Intellectual occupations are harder to measure, but the picture is the same. Academics seem to publish【C14】______ as they age. Painters, musicians and writers show the same tendency. Their output peaks in their 30s and 40s. The only【C15】______is female writers, who are most productive in their 50 s.